Secrets and Ghosts
by LAPoch
Summary: Events between Dead Doll and A La Carte. Once Sara is rescued, she deals with a trying hospital stay, the news that her relationship is out in the open, and a brush with the notorious Dr. Lurie. GSR, of course!
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer - I don't own CSI or these characters; I just want to borrow them to have a bit of fun.

**Secrets and Ghosts**

As soon as the chopper took off with Sara, Sophia called in the update to PD headquarters and the lab. "We found Sara Sidle, breathing, but unresponsive and pulseless. She is being med-evaced to Desert Palms Hospital." No more details were available.

When the update reached Ecklie, he inquired if there had been any communication with Grissom or Catherine, but neither had checked in. He groaned; he knew there was no chance of either of them leaving the desert before finding Sara. It just meant that they would never get to the hospital in time to represent the department on Sara's behalf, but it had to be done, so the responsibility fell to him. "Judy, get me Sidle's personnel file, and make sure it's current! I'll be at the hospital, and I'll call you as soon as she arrives with an update so you can disperse the information." All he could do was hope that the news wasn't the kind he would have to immediately start making the tough phone calls on. He decided to wait and let Grissom alert her emergency contact in due time; he would be the more appropriate person for that job. "The minute Grissom checks in, send him over to the hospital to take over."

He arrived at the hospital and proceeded straight to the ER. The registration clerk was relieved to get the process started before the rapid fire testing would start. The doctors had no patience at all when it came to holding up lab samples for details such as the patient's name. Rather than answer each question, Ecklie merely handed over the demographic page of the file to the clerk to take whatever information was needed. She then passed it onto the nurse to take medical information. Now the only thing missing was the patient. Ecklie was allowed to wait in the communication room where he could audit the updates from the EMT's on the helicopter, "obvious fracture to left forearm, multiple abrasions, laceration over cheek, no other injuries evident, ...Neuro, no response, ...Heart Rate 145, Sinus Tach…..Blood Pressure, not registering…..." Ecklie listened silently, nothing he heard was very encouraging, yet. Getting restless, he decided to walk the halls.

As if awakening from the deepest sleep of her life, Sara's senses began to process bits and pieces of her surroundings. The coarse vibrations of the flight and the incredibly loud din of the engine were unfamiliar and strange. The movement and turbulence were unsettling.

_Where am I?…What's happening?..._Sara struggled to awaken her consciousness, feeling a loving touch on her hand, but the voices shouting medical jargon over the din were not. And just like that, almost like a bolt of lightening, her memory jogged the events of the past 24 hours. As the terror reclaimed her, the adrenaline shot into her system, helped now by the vital fluids pouring into her bloodstream through the IV, she willed her eyes to open. The sight before her instantly eased her fear, and joy took over. As she focused in on Grissom's vest, and then his look of relief, she knew she was rescued. Just as the quickly as the terror returned, it was gone again. She was safe, she was with him, she had been saved. Nothing else mattered in the world. She took a deep breath and found a smile; it was _over_.

While the EMT's continued to work, monitoring her vital signs, administering fluids, applying ice, and communicating her condition to the hospital, Grissom never let up his grip of her hand; the only communication possible in the roar of the helicopter's tight space.

They rode like that until the helicopter touched down at Desert Palms Hospital, when he was forced to relinquish his hold to allow her to be carried off and onto an awaiting stretcher.

Everything seemed to move in double time at that point. Even Grissom was stunned at the efficiency of the ER personnel. They swooped in, and simultaneously worked on and transported his beloved right out of his sight despite his best efforts to stay close.

He burst though the door he saw her disappear through only to be stopped by the butt of a hand. Mrs. Burson, all of 5 feet tall, grey hair, and a Southern drawl, said "Hold on there! Where do you think you're goin'?" she said as she blocked his entry.

Grissom grabbed her forearm to free himself, "I'm staying with her!"

"You can't come in here. We have strict rules. Waitin' room's thatta way."

"Hold on, please," he insisted, "if you had any idea what the two of us have been through this past 24 hours, you would not keep us apart. We haven't even been allowed to speak."

"Let us do our jobs, then you'll have the rest of your lives to be together, besides people can't handle seeing what happens in there."

"No wait, you don't understand, I'm LVPD!" he fudged, trying to pass.

"LVPD, or not, I can tell you're emotionally involved. You're gonna puke or pass out, and then I got anotha' patient, a distraction, and I ain't takin' as good 'a care of her as I could have if you'd just go out to the waiting room!" she said, getting a bit inpatient at his persistence.

Grissom reveled in this argument, as he grinned and shook his head, "Oh, you have no idea what I deal with at my job. I could show you puke and pass out. I inventory insects as they crawl through corpses, and you think I can't hold my girlfriend's hand in your crash room!"

They stared each other down. Finally, in desperation, he challenged her, "OK, if you are so sure I'll cave, take this bet from me. When Sara recovers from this, and she will, she and I will buy you dinner anywhere you say, _if _I get in the way of her care, barf, or pass out." His expression of desperation was very persuasive. Besides, steak dinner sounded pretty good.

"This is against my better judgment; I have been burned every time I let somebody talk their way in there who doesn't belong."

Staring him down, "You're in love with her, aren't ya?"

Nodding with desperation, "Completely."

"OK, I'll find a place for you. But you have to know, that luuuuv thing makes this is a sucker bet, and I'll take a Frank's Place Fillet. You might as well plan to pay up, my husband, too!"

In his desperation to stay with Sara, he never noticed against the opposite wall Conrad Ecklie stood with his mouth aghast. Ecklie never expected to see Grissom even arrive with Sara, much less comforting her and declaring his love for her! The police investigation had suggested the abduction had actually been a personal vendetta against Grissom, but he reasoned Sara had been taken because she was a vital member of Grissom's valued team; he never considered they were having an affair. He only now opened the file he had been holding. Emergency contact, "Gilbert Grissom", even her address he recognized as Grissom's. "Idiot!" he mumbled to himself for missing the signs as he stormed out of the hospital.

TBC...

A/N: Anybody want to put odds on Grissom's bet with the nurse?


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: same as chap one!

As promised, Ms. Bursen led Gil to a stool she positioned near the top of the stretcher. Sara was surrounded by nurses connecting her to various monitors, IV pumps, oxygen hoses, and Lord only knows what else. Grissom could stroke her forehead, but still found it difficult to speak over the bells and whistles, not to mention the lack of privacy. "Sara?"

She turned to look at him just as the doctor breezed in, "What have we got?" She was a 30-something, no-nonsense woman, straight out of a Grey's Anatomy episode.

The EMT started in, "35 y.o., previously healthy woman, found in the desert unresponsive and pulseless, but with a good response to fluid resuscitation….currently 90/60, heart rate 120's, Awake and alert, O2 saturation, 100, temp 38.5."

"OK, sounds like we're still catching up, keep the fluids open, let's put in a bladder catheter, keep cooling, and start some blood work; let's see what else is going on. Ms. Sidle? Is that how you say your name?" Dr. Rigby politely asked while Ms. Bursen was busy cutting off her jeans. Grissom meanwhile was fascinated by the scissors that went through denim like butter, "We could use some of those," he muttered, bringing a grin to Sara's face.

"Yes," she whispered to both, surprised at how weak her voice was.

"Let's get this mask off your face, it looks like you don't need extra oxygen now, and it will let me hear you better. So tell me what happened."

"I'm a bit interested to hear this, too, I only know part of the story," Grissom chimed in.

"You'll never believe it all, really, so much happened to me, it was a nightmare," her voice a bit shaky.

"Try me," the doctor smiled, "I've seen quite a lot working this ER."

"Well, let's see…First I was tasered, bound, and stuffed in a trunk; I used the taser barb to free the ties and crawled out into the car, scuffled with my abductor, jumped out of a moving car…. really bad idea by the way…. knocked myself unconscious and got most of these abrasions doing that,"

_So Warrick was right about her getting out of the trunk._

"Is that when you broke your arm?"

"No, that comes later... I woke up bound again on the floor in the back seat, awakened by my abductor pouring water down my throat, the water was tainted because next thing I know I'm drugged and passed out."

"Add a tox screen, head CT," interrupted the doctor, "I'm sorry, please continue." She said shaking her head.

"OK, I awakened _again_ with a wrecked car being lowered onto me with some sort of hydraulic jack thing, and then I was left alone, pinned under the car when the rain started."

By now, even the seasoned staff had stopped what they were doing to listen to her unbelievable story. It was truly hard to imagine. Ms. Bursen glanced at Grissom, starting to understand his passion to be at her side following this horrific ordeal.

"Wait a minute, the car had already wrecked, you weren't in a wreck?"

"Yes, exactly, crazy, huh?" She looked off as if deep in thought, then finally continued, her voice lower, "The water rose, and it became harder and harder to keep my head above it."

That's when Grissom felt the first lurch from his stomach. Just about the time Ms. Bursen was cutting off Sara's shirt, revealing more bruises and abrasions across her abdomen and torso. Dr. Rigby had been examining Sara while listening. She was clearly taken aback by the trauma. "How did you get this?" Before she could answer, Grissom's body was revolting with the image of Sara writhing under the car, struggling for air, for freedom, all the while being smashed to within an inch of her life. The bruises, the deformity of the arm, and the image caused his stomach to purge itself in the most primitive way, he rubbed his temples, and fought with all his might to quell the impulse. Ms. Bursen recognized the look, grabbed the first available container, and thrust it under his face just in time to catch him heaving into it.

"Omigosh, I'm so sorry!" He mumbled as he wiped his face with the wet cloth he was handed.

"Griss, what in the world just happened?" Sara could only stare in utter disbelief, helpless to understand or help him.

"I'm really disappointed in you. I thought you'd at least make it until we actually started _working _on her," the savvy nurse whispered in his ear, but he couldn't bring himself to make eye contact with anyone. "Dinner, humph, I shoulda held out for more," she mumbled.

"Who let him back here anyway?" the nice doctor was beginning to lose her patience as she was unaccustomed to working in front of family, for this very reason.

"I did, doc, I'll handle him, Please continue Ms. Sidle," trying to keep the damage to a minimum.

"Well, ah, let's see…" Sara was clearly shaken by the sight, but nevertheless continued with the story, "Where was I…oh, yea, the water was rising, and that actually began to shift the car, which is how I freed up everything except that left arm, ultimately the car settled on that arm and a rock pretty hard. That's when it broke. God, did that ever hurt," she winced at the memory, "but I managed to get out shortly after that, so ultimately it was a good thing, because I would have surely drowned there. The rest I think you know. I thought I needed to get to a road to get rescued, next thing I know, I'm on a helicopter."

"OK, wow, that _is_ quite a story," which was about all the bedside manner Dr. Rigby possessed. "Let's get a chest X-Ray, with that arm film. Anything else feeling like it could be broken."

Sara laughed, "It might be easier to point out what doesn't."

"Right," Dr. Rigby nodded and winced in understanding, while she scribbled some orders for more tests and X-rays.. "OK, here's what's gonna happen. We're going to start giving you some Morphine, so we can…"

"No!" Sara interrupted with the most forceful word she'd uttered thus far, "I'm fine; I don't want to be drugged _again_, please."

"Ms. Sidle," she paused, "Sara… you won't feel that way once Ms. Bursen starts in on your abrasions to clean them out. Besides that arm has to be hurting already and we need to manipulate it to reduce the fracture and splint it. Trust me, take the morphine."

She looked at Grissom for direction, "Let them medicate you, I'll be right here."

She nodded, "OK," but was visibly shaken by the fear of losing consciousness against her will, _again_.

"As I was saying, we need to set this fracture, splint it, and clean these abrasions, and then we will be able to determine if any need stitches. The labs will be coming in so we can adjust your fluids. Once all that is done, as long as all your vitals are stable, you'll be sent to X-Ray for multiple tests. That's when I suggest your friend should leave to get your things and get clean. Radiology is a black hole where patients disappear for hours. Once all _that_ gets done you'll be moved to a private room. I'll transfer your care to a surgeon."

"Do I need surgery?" trying to sound calm.

"Well, it's likely you'll need surgery by an orthopedist to definitively fix that fracture, but in the meantime it's common practice for a general surgeon to manage our trauma patients after admission to the hospital. Unless you have your own physician, we'll just consult the next surgeon on the call schedule."

"So I can't stay with you?" Sara said smiling.

"No, but I'll be following up. I've worked a lot of wild accidents, but your story is right up there. Take care of yourself, I'll be back when the morphine's taken effect" she admonished as she whisked out of the room as fast as she breezed in earlier. Sara and Gil were left with Ms. Bursen who was preparing the morphine shot.

"Ma'am, can that wait just a few minutes, I'd really like to be alone with this man. We haven't….."

"Hey," she interrupted, "No problem at all, I think this is a perfect time to give you a break. You two visit, and I'll be back in a few." She left the room with a knowing smile, and a good feeling about letting him stay at her side.

TBC...

A/N: Grissom lost the bet. Goes to show you, love makes everything totally unpredictable. 

A/N 2: Sorry for the medical geek stuff, but it seemed essential to the full story. Promise, only one more chapter in the ER, and more fluff in it.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I wish I was more clever with these things, but, I just want to borrow these incredible characters for a visit in between episodes. I don't own nuthin'.

When she was gone, they were actually alone in the room. The menagerie of personnel had miraculously disbanded and taken their wild cacophony of sounds with the exception of the lonely blip from the monitor with every one of Sara's heart beats. Gil moved his chair around to her side and positioned his face right in front of her cupping her cheek in one hand, and reaching for her hand with the other. For the longest time, neither spoke, but just took in the moment. Finally Grissom muttered, "All this time waiting to talk to you, and," shaking his head, "I'm without words right now." 

"Not even a quotation to fit the moment?" she softly spoke in reply.

His lip quivering, "God knows, I was a mess wondering what you were going through, worrying about you." He gently kissed her lips, "I love you, Sara, I love you. I've never known love before, it's so…" He paused, searching for the right word, "powerful." His eyes scanned her battered face, the evidence of her ordeal so glaring it continued to stir his raw emotions which were normally so neatly contained.

"It's the only thing I'm truly afraid of," he said with a sheepish grin and wet eyes.

Sara was overwhelmed with his expression of love. It was all she could do not to cry, but she was losing the battle, as she opened her mouth in reply, words didn't come right away, a few whimpers, then, "I love you, more."

They tried to embrace, but it was awkward and difficult around everything they had attached to her. In their attempt they managed to do little more than to set of some awful alarms, but fortunately they were so offending that help was there promptly to reset them. A young nurse smiled, and then quickly let them be.

"Sara," Grissom started in slowly, "did you know that was Natalie?"

"Yes," she swallowed hard, and then continued, "I just guessed it was her, and then in the car I tried to talk to her. That's when I knew for sure."

"You know what? We got her the night you went missing."

Sara's face showed her shock, "What! Is that how you found me?"

"No, she was on the verge of psychotic break, she couldn't tell us what color the sky was, much less anything useful." He took a deep breath and continued, "Do you know why she did this to you?"

"I think so, why, what do you know about it?"

"I believe she was trying to exact a measure of revenge on me for taking away Ernie Dell. That's what made this even more unbearable, knowing what you were going through, and that it was all because of me."

"You have to stop thinking that!" Sara was now trying to sit up, but she became dizzy and gave up. "You did not cause this to happen. Natalie is the most broken, messed up, evil girl on the planet. What she did, she did on her own."

He nodded unconvinced. There was a silence in the air while they both pondered the motive. Finally, he had to know, "what did she say to you?"

Struggling with what to tell him, she shuddered, and finally spoke, "the creepiest thing I've ever heard, 'Grissom could never love you as much as Ernie loved me.'"

Grissom was frozen in stunned disbelief. "Did you actually get a miniature?" Sara continued.

All he could do was nod, and try to caress her. Words failed him once again in the wake of Sara's quote of Natalie's twisted logic. Meanwhile, Ms. Bursen blew back in with a cart full of supplies ready to get to work.

Everything the salty old nurse had told him had been right on the mark, so he tried to prepare himself for what was likely to be a painful ordeal for Sara, and therefore incredibly hard for him to watch. As the morphine took hold, Dr. Rigby swooped back in, manipulated the fracture, causing Sara to wince and groan, and Grissom's stomach to lurch in that now familiar fashion. Quickly casting it, then gone again, Ms. Bursen started in with sterile brushes, sponges, gauze, and even tweezers to get all the embedded crud out of Sara's abrasions. Then she went over all of them with disinfectant solution and more gauze. All Grissom could do was try to distract her, and try like all hell not to puke again seeing his loved one's pain.

Once it was over, everyone was wrung out. Even the experienced RN was taking a deep sigh and shaking her head, relieved to be finished. "I don't think there's anything here Dr. Rigby needs to put stitches in. I think we can steri-strip that cheek laceration. I'm going to find a clean gown for her, but you really need to go get refreshed and get her things. You can be waiting in her room after the X-Rays are done. I suggest some fresh flowers in your hand," she smiled and patted his sagging shoulder.

Sara looked up through eyes gone bleary with exhaustion and morphine, "Gil?"

"I don't want to leave you, but this woman has been remarkably accurate in telling me what's going to happen," he looked down, "she even told me I would puke or pass out in here."

"She predicted _that._ Wow, maybe you should listen to her," Sara admonished as her voice trailed off and her eyelids sagged.

"She'll be fine, honey, now don't you forget my steak dinner!" and she left him to say good-bye.

Grissom's good bye was mostly non-verbal, but it said everything. It was all he could do to leave, but he knew it would be best to be waiting just as Ms. Bursen recommended when Sara got to her hospital room.

Emerging out of the ER, taking in the evening air, it dawned on him; he rode in on a helicopter, now what?

Pulling out his cell phone and dialing, "Catherine, it's Gil."

"Gil! What the heck is happening, we've been waiting for your call! All Ecklie would say is that Sara woke up, but that you took over and we'd have to get updates from you."

"Ecklie? What are you talking about?"

"Ecklie was at the hospital registering Sara and waiting for the chopper to arrive to report back on her condition, but he didn't stay long and did a lousy job it you ask me."

Grissom was stunned.

"Are you telling me you didn't even see him?"

The other end of the line was silent, "Gil!"

Grissom stomach was already in knots, now he was having trouble just breathing. _What did he see, where was he?_

Finally, he softly replied "Catherine, I never saw him at the hospital, but I'll bet he saw Sara and me together. He must know, and I'll bet he's pissed."

"Gil, don't beat yourself up about it now, gossip was working its way around the lab pretty fast, everyone was suspicious, he was bound to find out. By the way, where are you?"

"Ah, yes, I'm at the hospital, but I need a ride, I'll update you on Sara's condition if you can come and get me."

"I'm actually already on the way, but in the meantime, call one of the guys with an update, we were all going crazy worrying about her!"

Meanwhile, at the nurses station, Ms. Bursen was checking the surgeon's call rotation, and began to dial the phone, "Hello, This is Deana Bursen in Desert Palms ER. I have a consult for Dr. Lurie from Dr. Rigby. The patient's name is Sara Sidle, she's currently in the ER, but will be going to room 3702 after radiology. The consult reads, 'for management of dehydration, shock, heat stroke, and fractured ulna/radius following multiple trauma, possible occult injury, and concussion."

"Thank you, we'll forward this to Dr. Lurie, he's at the hospital rounding with his team now, so he'll get by tonight."

"Great, Thank you."

TBC...

A/N: Thank you all for the reviews! 


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: You know the drill.

Catherine collected Grissom on the ER ramp, and the ride to his townhouse was lively. Gil told her blow for blow what happened in the ER, leaving out one event. The unprecedented puke would not be revealed under threat of death.

But if there ever was a blind side punch, Catherine asked, "So did you tell her you blabbed about you two?"

At that moment, Grissom was sipping coffee she brought him and spewed it all over the dash, "Jesus, Catherine, do you have to be so blunt."

"Answer my question," she replied sternly.

"It didn't come up."

"You are something," shaking her head. "Anyway, why don't you let me go get some things for Sara at her place, that way you can get back there faster."

He winced, cringed, and fumbled with words, "um, it's Ok, really"

"What are you trying to say?" she glared at him.

"It's all one stop, she lives with me now."

"Oh, Geez, you two were _living _together!"

He just shrugged, nodded, and looked out the window.

"Just how many other secrets do you have?"

"That was the biggie."

She just rolled her eyes and kept driving. Finally, in a reserved voice, "Gil, I know you're not one to share _anything _personal, but there's one question that's been nagging the begeebees outta me over all this. Do you mind?"

"Ask away. Lord knows I owe you for this massive lie of omission I've been hiding from a good friend. I hope you understand why I had to do it though."

"Well, that's another talk, another day." Pausing, choosing her words carefully before speaking, "Gil, you are not the type of person driven by emotion to act, and you keep personal relationships at arm's length. For a man like you to cross the line, and enter a relationship which could potentially, _seriously_, derail your career, it must have looked like stepping over the Grand Canyon. What in the world made it something you could do?"

"Mmmm, well, I guess the answer is that when that moment came, it didn't look anything like the Grand Canyon, it didn't even look like a line at all, it was more like a Greek sailor trying to pass the Sirens," and he gave that look he always does when he quotes something.

"That's _great_; you know that doesn't tell me much. I guess that's what you intended," shaking her head.

"Well, tell me this, do you want to know out of curiosity, or are you possibly in a similar situation?" he retorted, eyebrows raised, a vague reference to her interaction with Warrick.

"C'mon Gil, how long have we known each other? You know I don't fish from the company pier! I just want to understand this. Besides, like you said, you owe me!"

"You're right; I know what you want to know. Let me try to answer it." Taking a deep breath, he started, "I don't know about 'love at first sight' or anything, but I met Sara and something clicked. I kept in touch with her, but I couldn't figure out how to start up a relationship. She was too young for me, we lived in different states, and I felt something so different for her, even though I couldn't define it, it was so scary and intoxicating at the same time. Anyway, when the opportunity came, I brought her into the lab, but, that wasn't really too smart, now what, I can't date her! We started a cruel cycle of me flirting, her responding, me pushing her away, and around again. I couldn't confront it, but she finally did, and I shot her down. I don't know why she stayed, but she did. I was that guy you described in your question, I think I truly loved her then, but I was looking across the Grand Canyon."

Catherine laughed softly, understanding.

"I know you remember the time she lost it to you and Ecklie over those Russian women we found buried in tar."

"Oh yes, that was ugly."

"In more ways than one. Anyway, I went over to her place to confront her. If you think I'm private, Sara makes me look like the office gossip. It took hours, but I finally got her to tell me about why she was so angry so often. All of a sudden, I understood her, _completely_. But, she needed more counseling, so I made sure she got it. I knew it would be painful for her, and since I had more or less forced it on her, I couldn't let her go through it alone. I began checking up on her, taking her to appointments, we started spending time together, talking about things. I couldn't wait for those times; we talked about anything but work and we never ran out of topics."

"That's sweet, but I still see 'Grand Canyon'," Catherine interjected.

Grissom laughed, "You're right again, I didn't jump right in."

"So, what pushed you over that line," Catherine coaxed him. She could tell he was starting to clam up.

"It's really a bit embarrassing."

"Gil, you've gone this far…"

"OK," he sighed heavily, "I've learned living in this town, most men are turned on by women getting dressed up, decked out, made up, and all that." He shrugged, "I suppose I'm wired backwards, I find a beautiful woman who is casual and comfortable so much more…. intimate."

He shook his head, wrung his hands a bit before going on, "I knew how she had trouble sleeping at times, so after a particularly trying shift I did some paperwork, and then picked up some breakfast and went over to check on her. I had to see her, to just see she was OK. I never imagined she was able to sleep! She answered the door after a while, hair all over the place, her tank top a bit askew, and sweats that might have been in the dryer one too many times. She had been dead asleep and was practically sleep walking, clearly oblivious to the effect she had on me, turned and invited me in while she padded back to her sofa. I was already attracted to her, physically, intellectually, and emotionally connected; but when I saw her this _intimately_….whoa, it was over, the last of my defenses melted away, that being my weakness. I realized I couldn't continue to suppress my feelings any longer. It was all I could do not to take her in my arms and back to her bed that very second."

Catherine's eyebrows shot up, even knowing about their relationship; she had trouble picturing her friend acting so vulnerable, so _human_.

"I managed to leave, but not without asking for a date. She didn't accept right away. It started a marathon heart to heart talk. And let's just say neither one of us are too good at that kind of business. I had to do some serious damage control for all those years, major begging. When that night came, it was a Sunday, I think, and there was no line at all….or if there was one, I was well over it already before I kissed her that first time"

His voice drifted off, his eyes closed, he was thinking about the most singularly passionate episode of his life. The kiss…. The kiss led directly to making the most sensational love that was beyond any he could have dreamt of. Seven years of sexual tension between two people can bring about an incredibly passionate moment after all.

They were in the driveway. Catherine had tears in her eyes, seeing her friend as she had never imagined him, but had always hoped for him. She recognized the value of the gift he had just presented, a glimpse at his most private moments. And Sara, still a mystery, was now seen in a whole new light. Of course, now Catherine would be _tormented_ wondering what Sara revealed to Gil to bring them together emotionally, but she dare not go there. She knew he would soon regret what he'd already told her, and that was clearly guarded territory. She was also a bit stunned to realize how long they had been together, and how long Gil had been potentially in love with her. _How didn't we see it?_

"That was a beautiful answer, I mean I really think I understand now. And don't worry, I know how hard that was for you, it won't go past me."

He nodded, trusting her.

"But, Gil, just one more question?"

"Now what," he replied in an exasperated tone.

"Is your car still at the lab? How were you planning to get back to the hospital?"

He looked in the driveway and let out a massive sigh, then with a sideways grin, "Gosh, I must be beyond exhausted, um, so, can I catch another ride from you?"

TBC…..

A/N: This was a tough chapter to write, but I couldn't resist trying to put yet another theory about how Grissom and Sara got together. If you want to call me to task for taking Grissom out of character, revealing such private details, I understand. I just hoped his emotional state made it OK, plus I couldn't resist.

For those of you looking for Dr. Lurie, I promise, next chapter!


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: see all the other chapters, same song, new verse!

Sara was brought to a holding area in the radiology department to await various studies. She succumbed to the lingering effects of the morphine and total exhaustion, especially now with no one prodding and poking on her any more. She was in a deep sleep despite the hard stretcher, the constant blip of the monitor, and the makeshift traction for her broken arm.

Dr. Vincent Lurie and his team were just walking in the department to view films of their patients before starting their evening rounds. He was lucky to have an extremely competent chief resident on this rotation, so he could delegate more to this gifted young doctor. Bill Brailey organized the team better than some of the other staff surgeons did. Just about then, the text page came in, "No rest for the weary, gang. We have a consult, but if we time this right we can catch the patient before she leaves the department!" Bill took the information and dispatched a medical student to go find the chart.

The information was gleaned from the chart, summarized into a problem list, and under each problem, a list was generated including what had been done, what was pending, and what still needed to be watched or obtained. "Ok, let's go find this woman."

After reading the account of her adventure, no one was surprised to see her condition; not the deep sleep, the injuries, nor the unkept, filthy appearance. "Boy, I really hate to do this," Dr. Brailey commented as he reached up to awaken Sara. "Ms. Sidle?" he spoke forcefully as he shook her shoulder.

Sara awoke with a start, instinctively thrashed about, looking up in shock, not knowing where she was, and scaring the medical students right out of their little white jackets. She was trying to focus on the young doctor's face speaking to her, but everything was a blur.

"Whoa there, relax Ma'am," he said grabbing her shoulders and holding her to the stretcher. "I'm Dr. Brailey, this is my staff, Dr. Lurie, and you're at Desert Palms Hospital, but right now you're on a tiny stretcher, so if you keep this up, you're going to add to those injuries you already have."

"Oh, my, I'm so sorry," she lamented in a low voice. "I'm still a little out of it I guess, I had no idea where I was just then."

Vincent Lurie suddenly turned ashen as his heart raced. Even with the matted hair and the abrasions and the dirt, he saw Debbie. The resemblance frightened him to his core. Then a longing came over him. He was losing his objectivety as her physician, as he was mesmerized by the sight of her. He thought ahead; she would not always be his patient. _I might have another chance! _Finally, he turned away, trying to stay outwardly calm, smiled and motioned to Bill to continue.

Dr. Brailey briefly examined her, and upon finding nothing new from the exam recorded in the ER, he began to summarize her condition for her.

To Sara it sounded like a foreign language film with no subtitles. "Dr., um, oh darn," she slurred, "what did you say your name was?"

"Brailey, ma'am."

"Ok, well, not to be rude, but I'm not catching any of what you're telling me, my head is spinning a bit, I really need you to call my boyfriend, and tell all this stuff to him."

_Boyfriend! Well, that's better than husband._Lurie mused to himself.

"Usually it's better if you have a relative I could contact," he replied somewhat dejectedly as rounds were being further drawn out.

"Actually, I don't,…but this man has my medical power of attorney, he's the appropriate person."

_Who gives medical power of attorney to a boyfriend? This sounds serious._

"OK, Ms. Sidle," Dr. Brailey pulled out a notepad, "name and number please"

"Thank you," she replied, obviously relieved, "Gil Grissom, 750-9544."

Success in Vincent Lurie's profession required meticulous control of emotion, and he was a master of it. But, this was too much even for this ice man. He discretely reached for the chart and ducked out of the room. Finding a vacant office, he entered it and shut the door. Letting out a muffled scream, banging the desk, and hyperventilating; he had never been so out of control, at least not since that fateful night. Trying to clear his mind, calm his body, he was totally numb by the knowledge that his obsession with Debbie was returning with one glimpse of Sara. Worse than the powerlessness he felt over that, was the fact that he would have to go through the man who was hell bent on him spending the rest of his life in prison over her. He could never forget that name. Yet, as his mind recovered, he began to think out loud, _What are the odds that there are two Gil Grissom's in this town?_He flipped through the chart to the sheet containing the personal information. Employer: LVPD Crime Lab. _Damn! _

Dr. Lurie quickly scribbled down Sara's contact information, cursing under his breath as he noticed it was the same as her emergency contact, Grissom. _Damn him! What happened to "I couldn't do it, risk everything I worked for."? Lying hypocritical bastard. _

Lurie had to reign in his composure, and fast. He ventured out of the office once he was in complete command of his emotions once again, but his mind was occupied with the specter of Debbie and the knowledge that he was likely to confront his nemesis, Dr. Gil Grissom.

Rejoining the team, Dr. Brailey had already started the call, "Catch up with us when you're done," Dr. Lurie whispered to Bill as he handed him her chart, glanced over at Sara once more, and proceeded out of radiology motioning the team to follow. Sara was already back asleep, never picking up on Dr. Lurie's presence.

TBC……


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I would love to own these characters, but sadly, I don't.

_How can a shower feel this good! _Gil thought as the warm water washed away the dirt, sweat, and emotion of the day. When he was done, he was confronted with the task of choosing from Sara's many cleansers, lotions, and shampoos trying to figure out which to bring to the hospital. _This woman really loves to pamper her skin._

Catherine was waiting to bring him back to the hospital, "Cath, you should come in with me. I could use the company, and I know Sara will want to see you. Warrick and Nick can start the shift up, they'll call if they need us."

Smiling, deep down she was happy to be invited. While she and Sara had some differences over the years, they had a friendship as well. Although, Catherine was still wrestling with Sara and Gil's long kept secret they both hid from her. "I'd like that," she quickly replied.

The drive back to the hospital was relatively quiet, until Grissom's phone rang, "It's the hospital," as he answered,"Hello, Gil Grissom."

"Mr. Grissom, Dr. Bill Brailey here. I've just finished checking on Ms. Sidle, and although I explained her condition to her, she is evidently still feeling some effects of the morphine she got earlier. She insisted I call you and inform you as well."

"Is she alright? What did you find?" he inquired, urgently.

"She's actually doing quite well. The dehydration and shock have all but corrected with IV fluids and electrolyte replacements. Her kidneys were beginning to shut down, but that has all come around. She was suffering a heat stroke, but it was early, and her temperature has already normalized. She will still feel weak until she is eating and drinking a full diet, but we expect the IV's and bladder catheter can come out in the morning."

"Wonderful," he looked at Catherine, beaming.

"As you probably know, she suffered a concussion, but on that front she is exhibiting no ill effects from it, and her MRI was negative."

After a brief pause, he continued, "Her fractured arm will need to be evaluated by an orthopedic surgeon, and Dr. Rigby ordered a slew of X-Rays to rule out any other fractures, but since they aren't as urgent, they won't be read until tomorrow."

Breathing a heavy breath of relief, "That's all wonderful news, Thank you so much for filling me in."

"No problem, we'll see her in the morning, Good night."

Grissom closed his phone and looked heavenward in a silent prayer of Thanks.

"OK," chimed Catherine, hinting for information, "So it's all good?"

"All good," grinning, he added, "So, do you think we can find a flower shop this time of night?"

Catherine grinned back, shaking her head, "Oh yeah, we'll fix you up."

When they finally rolled Sara to her room, Gil and Catherine were waiting patiently for her. Despite their eagerness to reconnect, they reluctantly obliged when asked to step out while Sara was situated into the hospital bed.

Pacing back and forth in front of the door, "What could be taking so long?" Gill muttered. Catherine just shook her head and snickered.

When the room cleared out, and they were allowed back in, Gil eased onto the side of the bed scooping up Sara's good hand with a wide smile, "Hello there."

Sara nervously glanced at Catherine, and returning the smile, discretely tried to retrieve her hand, "I can't tell you how good it is to see you guys. I was in that X-Ray department so long, I must be glowing."

Catherine suppressed a giggle as she noticed what Sara was doing.

Gil took her hand once more, and softly explained, "It's OK, Catherine knows."

Sara took in a long breath and smiled, a bit nervously still, "Does anyone else know, Dear?"

Grissom, now the one smiling nervously, "Well," fidgeting a bit now, "I sort of let it slip out to the team."

With that Catherine burst out laughing, "You call that 'letting it slip'!"

Grissom was now glaring at her, Sara's eyebrows were up and her mouth open in shock. "Honey, while you were fighting for your life under that car, your man here was back at the lab professing his undying love for you." Pausing, she added, "It was really very sweet."

"Thank you Catherine, but it was just a tiny slip, _really_."

"Oh, sure," laughing, she continued, "Sara, did you know you were the _only_ person he's ever loved?" Sara now had her look of shock again, eyes darting back and forth from Catherine to Gil. "In case you didn't know, you could have just asked Nick, Warrick, or Greg; any one of them could have told you." Catherine was smiling, enjoying telling on Grissom, and why not, after all, he was just acting like any mere mortal in love would, given what Sara was going through at the time.

"OK! Catherine, I think we get the picture," turning back to Sara, "I let my guard down; I was so consumed with worry and fear for you. I…"

"Hey," she interrupted, "I'm sure you held it together far better than I would have." Sara continued, "Please, don't beat yourself up over it." She squeezed his hand, and he bent over to give her a tender kiss which softened her expression into a smile. "So, um, anyway… just the team knows, right?"

Catherine rolled her eyes, and Grissom looked all around the room, fidgeting again.

"Oh, No! Gil, tell me," she pleaded, "not, Ecklie?" His expression told her all she needed to know. Her eyes tearing up now, "What happens to us now?"

Grissom gathered her up in a tentative embrace, careful to not aggravate her many tender and ailing parts, while Catherine tactfully exited out of the room. "Honey, I honestly don't know, but after we survived the past 24 hours, _nothing_ could hurt us."

She smiled in reply, while he continued, "We knew the risks when we got involved, anything from a slap on the wrist to getting fired and blackballed. I think we can count on Ecklie breaking up the team; he's done it over a lot less. But, I do think the circumstances factor in our favor. There's a lot of sympathy that will play in over the tragedy that ultimately revealed us." He tried to stroke her hair, but his fingers literally got stuck.

"Ouch!" she let out.

"Geez, I'm so sorry. Forget about Ecklie, the problem we have now is you are …. _filthy!_" and they both began to laugh, a welcome release.

TBC…..


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: ditto all the other chapters!

Catherine waited outside the room, stunned by the intimacy they obviously shared. _How do they work together and keep all that at bay. _She shook her head just as Grissom emerged from Sara's room, "I've got to find someone to clean her up. This is terrible."

Catherine rolled her eyes and nodded in agreement, "I'll wait till you get back, and then I probably should head in."

When Catherine entered the room, Sara motioned for her to come near. "Catherine," her voice trailed off, searching for words. As if reading Catherine's mind, "I wanted so badly to tell you about us."

"I wish you had," she replied, honestly.

"Gil and I promised each other, and I couldn't bear to be the one to break it."

"But, why? Why the secrecy, don't you both know you could trust the team with your lives, so certainly with this vital part of it."

"A lot of reasons actually. We revisited it so many times, but each time we reminded ourselves of why we needed to keep our relationship out of the lab. I could never tell a bold face lie to anyone on the team, lucky for me, nobody came out and asked." She gave a slight chuckle and continued, "The biggest reasons by far were the ramifications of violating lab policy and all the potential innuendos of motivation with a supervisor/subordinate relationship, sexual harassment for him, sleeping your way up for me. Gil probably had more at stake than I, but…"

Catherine opened her mouth to say something, but Sara continued, "I know you all would have been fine with it, but Gil knew it would be a distraction. Every little assignment or evaluation he made would be viewed through the veil of the relationship. Add to that, the team would be watching us with that in mind, distracting everyone. The performance of the team is so important to him; he didn't want to mess with that chemistry. Besides, we didn't want anyone to have to lie for us, if it came to that. It could have jeopardized more careers, collateral damage."

Sara checked her expression, trying to read it. Catherine gazed off, deep in thought, and silent.

"Then if we came forward formally, they would have split us up; we'd never get to work together, and hardly see each other."

Still no response. "These aren't small reasons, Cath. Those same reasons kept us apart for years." Her eyes misting again, "years we can't have back."

She finally looked up, winced, and reluctantly nodded. She didn't want them to have a valid reason, but they did, sort of. "So, with all that against the relationship, how did it ever happen?" Catherine couldn't believe the opening, the chance to check out Grissom's version, but she leapt through it.

Sara just pulled one corner of her mouth back in a grin and shook her head, "I can't, Cath."

_Grissom was right on the money, she is one tough nut to crack. _"Sure you can, besides, the way I see it, you owe me."

"Huh!" Sara guffawed, "And just how do you see that!"

"You let me blabber along about Grissom and Lady Heather like an idiot, the whole time you're seeing him yourself."

Sara winced.

"And how many little white lies did you tell me to cover things up, they add up, you know?"

"Well, maybe someday, it's a long story though, and Gil will be back once he finds the nurse."

"Yes, Gil is back," he chimed in as he entered the room, "No luck yet, evidently your nurse is busy."

"Damn," Catherine murmured.

"Catherine, are you really that concerned about Sara's hygiene?" Looking at the two women, grinning widely, "Ok, that's obviously not it, now what's going on?"

"Well, Sara was just about to tell me how you two got together," and then frowning, "when you walked in."

"Oh, really," he said grinning, "Well, maybe you should continue, Sara, I'd kind of like to hear this too."

"What!" both women shrieked in unison.

"That's right, dear, if you recall….." he moved in closer, "you put me through the Spanish inquisition before you'd agree to that first date, but you never revealed your journey to that point." _Catherine has all the highlights already,_ _so what could it possibly hurt_. Grissom not being too savvy in the 'pouring your heart out' area, never considered maybe he would be in for a surprise or two. Catherine meanwhile, smiled and got more comfortable in her chair.

Sara now with a confused look, "You're not serious?" She squinted, "Are you?"

"I am," as he folded his arms, and also got comfortable on the foot of the bed.

"I don't think I can do this."

"Sure you can….we met…." And Gil waved his hand over to her to continue.

"Are you sure you want to hear this? _Now?_ You want Catherine to hear this?"

"Just play like you're telling a story, like we're not even here. I've always neglected your side of it; I wrestled so with mine for so long. And," looking to Catherine, "she's been there for me, for us, for a long time, she deserves to know how we got together." Catherine choked up a bit on that last statement, but felt the truth of it.

Sara simply closed her eyes in thought, blocked out the two of them there, and thought about the journey. She thought of all the ups and downs, the hurt, the confusion, and finally the resolution of all that into the most blissful time of her life. She began to speak, to no one in particular, like the narrator of a story, staring off into space.

"We met at the Forensic Academy Conference in San Francisco. I attended Grissom's lecture and was completely taken in, his eyes, his demeanor, his _mind. _I had this overwhelming urge to get to know more, so I tried to strike up a conversation over Anthropology questions. He seemed interested as well, so we started communicating. Mostly professionally, a few personal topics were covered, maybe a little flirting. I really couldn't tell where it was headed; I couldn't read him at all. When he called me to Vegas to help on a case I was thrilled. When he asked me to stay on, I was captivated by him; partly hoping for romance, and partly content to be mentored and taught by him. But, even professionally he became so distant; I filed the paperwork to leave. He sent me a plant. How smitten was I! I stayed for a plant."

Grissom looked hurt, _What's wrong with a plant?_ Catherine smiled, remembering how he fumbled around trying to figure out what to do before settling on a plant.

"Gradually, I realized I was falling hard for him, but when it didn't look like romance was going to happen, I started to look elsewhere." She cleared her throat, "Hank."

Grissom winced.

"But, that wasn't the answer, and eventually, the hope for a real relationship with Grissom took over. Too many times I read the same hope in him, but when I brought it up, he made it clear he was not going there. I was confused and hurt."

Grissom sat there, feeling like a voyeur, hearing himself talked about in the third person. He was having serious second thoughts over this whole thing, not sure if he could stomach hearing how he had hurt Sara over the years. _What the hell was I thinking, telling her to do this! _Meanwhile, Catherine was practically drooling, this was some great stuff.

"The worst moment for me came on the case where one of the victims looked a little like me." Grissom inhaled audibly, and hung his head, dreading what he would hear next. "I don't know what possessed me, but I went to PD to watch the interview of the doctor, the suspect; I just wanted to see him get nailed for it. I guess I identified with that victim, for obvious reasons. Anyway, Brass and Grissom couldn't get him, the man had ice water in his veins, but as he was leaving, Grissom began to talk about _us! _He compared himself to the doctor, but summarized that he couldn't risk everything he's work for up to now, like the doctor had, for a life with a younger woman. I was devastated. I really took a downward spiral, threw myself into work, had a few too many beers at times, lost my temper more than I should, and not a day went by that I didn't tell myself I needed to leave. But, it was like I was held by a magic spell; I was unable to extradite myself from this impossible, destructive situation."

By now, Gil was feeling almost ill. If he did know just how deep she had sunk after his rejections, he had been in denial about it. Catherine was on the edge of her seat, so much of Sara's behavior now made sense. It was obvious Sara had some connection with Grissom all this time, but who knew she had been so in love with him for years while he cast her aside. She was truly amazed Sara didn't leave. But now, she wondered with baited breath, if Sara would reveal the watershed event; what ultimately brought them together. Gil had left that out of his version.

"Ultimately, the counseling I had after my near DUI helped put my feelings in prospective for Grissom. I had all that under control, but I snapped again, actually over something else, completely different. He began to check up on me, make sure I was ok, and we started to spend time together. Not romance, but friendship really. It was wonderful in fact. We talked about everything, effortlessly. I thought maybe this is where we were meant to be. I readied myself to be content with his friendship, and perhaps start exploring romance elsewhere. I actually started dating a bit."

Grissom's head shot up, _Dating! Who was she with when I was unable to get her out of my mind! _

Catherine couldn't help but notice, _Well, obviously **that** was news to him. _She also realized how skillfully Sara had skipped over the deep, dark secret she revealed to Grissom. _Darn! _She would still have to wonder about that one.

"Then, out of the clear blue, that's when he hit me with it. He asked me out on a _date!_ An old fashioned date. He would pick me up, take me out, and there was hope of romance as he promised a good night kiss, at least. After all he'd put me through I thought it was surely a joke. I began to learn he was serious. We talked for hours about his fears, what kept us apart, what kept him away from me. He finally convinced me his feelings were bigger than his fears at that point, and I nervously agreed. I was scared to death. I was so afraid he'd push me away, again. He picked me up, and took me out all right, right to his place! Cooked dinner for me, flowers, wine, candlelight, music, all wonderfully romantic by the way," she sighed, and smiling she added, "And, he was making love to me before dessert."

Grissom blushed. Catherine's mouth dropped open.

"That was about two years ago, and we've been together ever since." She inhaled deeply, finally looked down to catch the stunned expressions on her company, and sarcastically added, "Ta, dah! There, I did it. Happy, now?"

Silence filled the room. Finally, Catherine smacked Grissom playfully across the arm, "What in the world took you so long!" The levity helped bring Grissom back from the brink of wanting to slit his wrists over the pain he had caused Sara.

"I suck at romance," he meekly replied.

"Not once you get it in gear, Dear," Sara said with a smile. "You're actually quite irresistible."

Grissom turned a deeper shade of crimson.

"All right you two, I've got one final question," Catherine sighed in exasperation, "Just how did you keep from showing your feelings at work for that time, with all the stress we face? Wasn't that hard?"

Gil still looked like a deer in the headlights, so Sara answered for them, "It's just about being professional. But, I'll admit, there were times, that I wasn't sure I had the restraint I needed," giggling a little.

Catherine smiled, and then turned a bit serious, "I must admit, you're right about the chemistry changing with the team knowing about you two. The guys all wanted to come up here as soon as they got back, but they're holding back for the "all clear." I'm sure the boss and his girlfriend is a bit different than just seeing Sara."

"Well, I'm glad you didn't wait. I'm really glad I got to clear the air. And tell the guys to get their butts up here," she said, then adjusting her gown, "that is whenever they get me clean!"

TBC…..

A/N: Poor Sara, the secrets are just pouring out of her now! I think she needs a little break, a little chapter with some fluff and fun thrown in, before she comes face to face with her doctor on his morning rounds...


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: Nothing's changed since I wrote chapter one.

Grissom, relieved to have an errand to do, was back at the nurses' station, politely asking "Who has Ms. Sidle in 3702?"

"That would be Doris, Doris," she called over the intercom, "you're wanted at the desk!"

Doris rounded the counter, looking like a sizable woman to be reckoned with, she cocked her head, and in an irritated tone, "What can I do for you?"

Gil took in a deep breath. Once glimpse of Doris, and he knew who was boss around here. "Well, the patient in 3702 is in desperate need of a bath."

"Don't worry, Mr….?"

"Grissom"

"Mr. Grissom, do you have a first name?"

"Gilbert"

"OK, Gilbert. Let me explain it this way. The man in 3754 is having what looks to be a heart attack. I'm trying to get his butt over to ICU. Heart attack trumps dirty hair any day. But, rest assured, once I get this him out of here, your honey is gonna shine brighter than a new penny!" Doris had an interesting way of expressing herself.

Grissom smiled, and retreated back to Sara's room. "I think that when they do finally clean you, you might lose a layer of skin," Grissom said with a smirk.

Catherine smiled and embraced Sara once more as she said her goodbyes. "I'm off to hold down the fort."

Gil was getting quite comfortable next to Sara when Doris flew in the room with a cart full of supplies.

"Here's how it's gonna work. Sara, can he help me get you clean?"

Looking a bit startled, "Yes, of course," as she looked to Grissom and they both shrugged.

Doris went about turning Sara up on her side. She started on her face, neck, arm, and went down the right half of her body. As Gil predicted, she was thorough, not only was no dirt left on Sara, but a bit of skin might have gone as well. Doris then stripped that half of the bed, rolling the sheets under her. She made the bed with clean sheets, and rolled them up right next to the dirty roll in the center of the bed. Then she rolled Sara's clean side over onto the clean sheets and proceeded to clean the left side. Gil had to work to keep her broken arm supported, but Doris worked around that. She was remarkably adept at avoiding the abrasions. Doris barked orders at Gil to keep the process rolling, and he complied dutifully. Throughout the process, Sara had to lose all modesty; Doris was serious about getting every inch of her clean. Doris then pulled the clean sheets across the bed, and let a clean Sara lay back on the clean sheet, wearing nothing but dressings and a cast, and definitely without so much as a spec of dirt, as she slid on a clean gown. Sara was thanking Doris profusely, unable to remember when just being clean felt _so_ good. Grissom was taken by the efficiency of the process. Doris managed to get a whole lot of desert off of Sara all while confined to a bed. Next was the hair. Just then, the nurse's station buzzed in the room looking for Doris, "ICU's got some questions on your transfer!"

"Oh, Sugah, your hair job is gonna have to wait." Looking at Grissom, "Unless your honey here wants to tackle it," she smirked as she walked out.

Sara watched as Grissom rubbed his chin in thought, "Gil," she was shaking her head, "please, I've already had one near drowning today, can't this wait 'til she comes back?"

"She's brought in everything we need; I think I know how she's gonna do it."

"Honey, I've got a bad feeling about this!" but it was too late. Grissom was rifling through the bag for her shampoos.

"Do you have anything for the tangles?" he questioned excitedly.

"That yellow bottle should work pretty well after the shampoo." She answered nervously.

He proceeded to position the large tub on the cart filling two pitchers with warm water. He then adjusted the bed to a level just above the tub; he helped Sara position her head off the bed over the tub, which was quite a feat with the traction and the cast. He started to pour the warm water over her which produced multiple sighs of satisfaction from her. It felt so good after that filth had practically melded to her scalp. Things got touch and go when Gil got so distracted with all the stuff floating off her scalp that he almost let the tub tip over, but he quickly recovered and refocused. He repeated the process, over and over, dumping the tub and refilling the pitchers. He shampooed her hair with loving tenderness that she had hardly experienced in her troubled life. Finally, it was the yellow bottle's turn. It was the best smelling stuff, "So _this_ is your secret scent," Gil said as he took in a deep breath. Sara just smiled as she took in the moment and savored it. After the final rinse, he toweled her off, and shuddered to think he had almost lost this treasure in his life.

Doris blew back in, "Gilbert! I was only kidding!" She looked over the scene, and the completed job, then winking at Sara, "He's a keeper, girlfriend," and left with the cart and used supplies.

Grinning wide and feeling quite proud of himself, "Do you think you can sleep?" he asked her, while absently playing with the armband on her wrist. As he twirled the ID bracelet, he glimpsed the information it contained, her name, her birth date, a hospital number, and, at the bottom, her admitting physician's name.

"I would think so, except my arm's starting to throb again, I might need a pain pill or something."

She looked up to see Grissom's face turning pale with a rare look of confusion as he glared at the ID bracelet. He just ran out of the room. _I hate it when he does that! Hopefully he's getting me some medicine._

He found the nurse alright, but inquired instead about the doctor's name on Sara's bracelet, the man assigned to take care of Sara.

Doris answered, "Dr. Lurie, yes, that's her doctor, but don't worry, he's one of the best, rest assured."

"But, that's impossible….that's not who I spoke to, it was a ….Dr. , um Bradley?"

"Oh, you mean Dr. Braily, he's Dr. Lurie's chief resident. The pick of the litter, if you ask me." She looked up from the chart she was working on, "Gilbert, you don't look so good, Hon, is there something wrong?"

He shook his head, "When will Dr. Lurie be by?"

Doris shrugged, "Well, they already left orders for her overnight care, I'll bet they'll be by early to check her, and if all's well, start discontinuing some of this stuff." Trying to read him, she inquired, "Why?"

"I need to see him," he smiled a humorless smile, "that's all."

As he turned back to Sara's room, Doris called out to him, "Hey, just a minute, how's Sara's pain doing, that morphine should be long gone?"

"Oh, right, um, yes, she'd like something for that." He replied sheepishly, feeling a little ashamed he forgot about her pain.

Vincent Lurie was the prime suspect in a double murder with one victim who bore such an amazing resemblance to Sara that it was quite disturbing to Grissom. The man was the only one who had motive and skills to pull off such a passionate crime, but they couldn't find the evidence to seal the deal. Much later, in one of their heart to heart talks during the onset of their relationship, Sara confessed that she watched the interrogation of the doctor, and how it crushed her to hear Grissom's confession that his job was too important to him to risk a relationship with her. That was one of the biggest issues he had to reconcile for her before she would let him in. Even so, he wasn't sure how good a look she got of Vincent Lurie that day. He had been seated with his back to the viewing glass. He wasn't even sure Sara would recognize that name; he had tried his best to keep her out of that case. He decided to take a chance she didn't know him; she'd been through enough, he would handle this by himself in the morning.

He returned to her room, "Did you find my nurse?"

"Yes, she's bringing you something," he said as he tried to figure out how in the world they could sleep in this cold, hard, hospital room. Especially now that he knew Dr. Vincent Lurie had been at her side…and would be returning.

TBC…..


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: Nope, still don't own CSI or these characters.

Sara managed to fall asleep when the pain medicine took effect, but awakened with the first of what would be many nightmares. Grissom tried his best to doze off in the recliner in the room, but the recent events, the kidnapping, their relationship revealed, Lurie, and now throw in Sara's nightmare; it was fitful rest at best.

Just as Doris had predicted, Lurie's team rolled in just after 6:30am. Braily first, followed by the underlings, and bringing up the rear was the man himself. Gil sprung to his feet, instantly readying himself. He gently awakened Sara, "Honey, the doctors are here, I need to speak to this man outside," he added.

Sara was dazed from sleep, as she got oriented, Gil had left her side. Dr. Braily was already asking questions, readying his stethoscope and pulling at her gown to examine her. Sara was looking around a bit frantically, feeling that something wasn't quite right. Grissom went straight over to Lurie, "I'd like to speak with you in private." He then waited for Lurie to make a move. The doctor was standing at the foot of the bed. It was his job to oversee Dr. Braily, but he was so distracted by Debbie's likeness in Sara he barely noticed anyone else in the room. The resemblance was frightening, and the memory of the passion it stirred in him was even more frightening. Grissom's presence along side of him brought him back to a stark reality, "Doctor?"

"Certainly," he replied, finally, with a courteous, but nervous smile, "Carry on Braily," as he made his way to the door with the young team looking at him quizzically. He had hoped to avoid any one on one interaction with Grissom. He had planned simply to do his job, and let his brush with Las Vegas's crime lab stay in the past. Now he realized, that was not to be.

Once outside, "Dr. Grissom, it's been a while, how are you?"

"I'm trying to understand how you are assigned to Sara's case?" Grissom inquired, cocking his head for emphasis.

"Right, right, Sara……I don't remember her from the investigtion, and I know I would have, is she new?"

"No, she's not," Grissom replied tersely.

"Well, It's clear that you two are a couple. So you finally put your job aside for her." Recounting the interrogation, "I believe you said you couldn't risk everything you worked for to have her, wasn't that the way you phrased it, was she the one you were referring to?"

Stunned that he would even bring that up, "Is that how you talk to your patients?"

Lurie formed a sarcastic smile, "With all due respect, You... are not my patient."

"I still find your remarks a bit too personal, unprofessional actually."

"Oh really, any more unprofessional than you dragging me down to the police station to compare my social life to yours?" pausing for effect, "or more appropriately, your lack of a social life," he snorted, unable to resist lashing out at Grissom for the interrogation he endured.

Grissom felt his blood pressure rising, but outwardly stayed calm in reply, "That was certainly not the reason you were brought there. We were exploring a plausible theory explaining a double murder using the evidence we collected. Any crime that passionate can only be explained by getting very personal with a suspect's life."

Lurie felt his composure slipping, but he was leery of going down this road with Grissom. It was all he could do not to lash out some more. He resented the fact that the evidence hadn't been there all along, but that he was brought in there in an attempt to get him to cave in, to become emotional and confess, or trap himself. That was an insult to his intellect. That same intellect reasoned now that with the crime remaining unsolved, Grissom would never miss a clue. He needed to stop discussing it, or risk inadvertently incriminating himself. He swallowed his pride and politely continued, "Well, you _are_ the expert in that area."

Sensing a note of sarcasm, Grissom spoke firmly through clenched teeth, "You still haven't answered the question I posed today; how is it you are Sara's doctor?"

"Very well, it's a simple coincidence. There's a rotation the ER follows, my team was up," he calmly replied.

Grissom wasted no time cutting to the chase, "She and I request that you transfer her care to someone else. I don't think I should have to elaborate on that."

Lurie took in a deep breath and sighed, "Before you asked me to step outside the room, I was hoping we could just all be professional about this. My credentials as a physician are solid, my reputation is excellent, and I was never even charged with a crime. Not to mention, and most importantly, Sara's hospital course has been all anyone could hope for, she is recovering quite well from a life threatening ordeal."

"That being said, I don't dispute any of it; but, I have a personal opinion, I'm entitled to that."

Lurie reluctantly nodded, "Very well, let me update you. We've already looked into her overnight status and her morning labs. She's responded beautifully. Unless Dr. Braily picks up something on his exam or her final radiology reports come back with something unexpected, we plan to withdraw all her treatment except for the fracture, which will be picked up by the ortho team we consulted. We usually stay on board until discharge, but I'll speak to the orthopedist, and let him know I'll be transferring her total care over to him today."

Grissom still frowned.

"That's the best I can do, it would take at least that long to bring another team up to speed and for what? Just to sign off on the transfer? She's doing great. She shouldn't need any more care from us."

Gil just nodded, "stay away from her," he admonished as he returned to the room, leaving Lurie outside trying just to breathe. As soon as he gathered himself, he returned to the room, got a report from his resident, approved of the plans, smiled, and followed his team out the door, fighting the urge to look Sara's way once more.

"Gil, was that who I think it was?" Sara asked with her eyebrows raised.

"Yes, dear," he answered, "I didn't figure it out until last night, and I didn't want to give you something else to worry about. Just then I told him he had to transfer your case."

"Oh my, he was with that group last night," she shuddered. "Even in my haze, I thought he was looking at me a bit inappropriately, staring really. I can't describe it, but now I know I didn't imagine it. I just didn't place him until now."

Grissom's stomach lurched at the thought of it. He reached for his cell phone, "who are you calling?" Sara asked.

"The team, it's time for a visit! Let's pick up our spirits," he smiled.

"Oh, you are so right! Forget about that madman," as she adjusted her sheets, she rolled her eyes and added, "just don't leave me alone in here."

He winced then smiled, "Nick, you guys are requested here at the hospital after shift….."

TBC….

A/N: For those of you who are fans of this Lurie subplot, no worries, he'll find a way to hang around and stir things up...


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I would love to own CSI and these characters, but it's quite obvious that I don't!

The shift had been manageable, but hard none the less with Sara and Grissom out, and following the demanding triple they worked trying to rescue Sara. But, when the call from Grissom came, no one thought twice about not coming up. Greg was the first one there, bringing his famous coffee to the couple.

Greg was Sara's closest friend in the lab, and the two had even flirted with a romantic relationship, more from his side than hers, but had ultimately settled on true friendship. Greg had noticed the lingering touches between them, the subtle looks. He saw that she was happy. He just knew. But, he never confronted her with it; he was more content to think maybe it wasn't _really_true. Walking into her hospital room, he was hit with the new reality. Sara reached up for a hug; however, he froze and instead looked over to Grissom.

"Greg, don't look at him, I need a hug!" He nervously complied, but Sara realized how different this would be from now on. Grissom just shook his head.

Nick and Warrick came right behind him, doughnuts and muffins in hand. They arrived together and clearly felt uncomfortable with this new dynamic. Their greetings were forced and awkward. Nick was unusually quiet; contemplating his boss with his coworker and friend as lovers produced a shudder. It was a feeling not unlike a kid gets finally acknowledging that his parents actually have sex. This was going to take some getting used to. He glanced over at Greg who was plastered against the far wall. _He's not handling this much better than me! _

The conversation was mostly superficial, questions about how Sara was feeling from them, and questions about how they ran the search from her. Nobody could go too deep.

Brass blew in with flowers in hand, and wasted no time in planting a kiss on Sara's forehead, "Thank God, Sara, you even had me mighty scared, girl!" The guys shared a quick glance; they all noticed the ease with which he approached Sara, especially with Grissom watching. _He already knew about those two! _Brass immediately began quizzing Sara on her ordeal, looking on with a sympathetic, fatherly face. He was open about the angst in the lab while she was missing. The conversation gradually opened up.

Nick and Warrick described how it was processing Natalie's apartment, without too much detail of Sara's pictures obsessively placed throughout. Warrick quizzed Sara on her escape from the trunk, "That's my girl, Uh, huh! I told ya'll!" he gushed, as he made the raise the roof move with his hands. She smiled; the camaraderie they shared was slowly coming back.

Sara wanted to hear details of how she had been found, and really tried to keep the conversation going back to that. She was not enjoying describing her ordeal. In fact, each telling of it was starting to haunt her a bit. Their natural penchant for details meant they had lots of questions for her, however.

Catherine finally finished the shift up and headed over. She made time to pick up some fine body lotion for Sara knowing what the desert does to skin. The minute she entered the room she picked up on some of the tension present within the team and suggested that Gil go take a break since they were all there.

"I'm not leaving until she does," he answered firmly. Eyebrows went up around the room.

She took a deep breath and asked him to step outside with her. He reluctantly complied with a nod of approval from Sara.

"So, guys," Sara heaved a heavy sigh, "Was there really a miniature of me under the car?"

"Whew," Nick blew out.

"It was totally creepy," Warrick added.

"The only thing that didn't completely devastate us all was the little doll's hand was moving, telling us you were alive," said Greg.

"Gil's been a little evasive about it all," she mused, "I guess it hit a little too close to home."

They looked at each other again, not used to hearing Sara refer to Grissom as "Gil."

"It was rough in more ways than one, girl," Warrick shook his head, "you better never leave that man, I'm not sure _we_ could handle it." And they all laughed.

Brass added, "I've never seen him so lost, but somehow he still managed to work to find you. Thinking about it now, having that to focus on probably got him through it."

"Seriously, Sar, he's got it for you bad! He told us so when we were studying the miniature, I don't even think he knew what he was saying or who he was saying it to," Nick declared, "Anyway, when did all that happen, and right under our noses?"

Sara opened her mouth to answer, but couldn't figure out how to. She finally grinned and shook her head.

"And if we didn't see it, how did that nutcase in janitorial pick up on it?" added Warrick.

Sara smiled, "We made a conscious effort to keep our relationship in the lab strictly professional, but outside of it, well, if you were a stalker….which I'm pretty sure none of you is…..then it wouldn't be hard to see," she shrugged.

Nick shuddered with the thought of being stalked, "Well, I'm just glad it wasn't your day, you know?" Taking her hand, he fought back tears, and she just nodded in understanding. The ice was thawing, and the team was returning to their comfort zone, aided by Grissom's exit, of course.

Meanwhile in the hallway, Catherine chided Grissom, "Gil, this knight in shining armor routine is not really necessary, Sara's rescued now, ya know, Natalie's locked up."

Grissom just shook his head and softly responded, "Lurie's her doctor, I can't risk leaving her alone here."

"Wait a minute, that doctor that we suspected killed the young nurse that dumped him, and then chopped up the new boyfriend?"

"Yes, the nurse that looked like a clone of Sara. The DA never filed charges, he didn't feel we had enough on him."

"Gil, how did this happen?"

"Supposedly a _coincidence_."

"OK, well now I understand why you don't want to leave," she sighed.

"This morning I was able to confront him, and I insisted he transfer off her case, but I don't know….I just don't trust him."

"You still need a break, I promise I'll stay, and at least one of the guys, you can trust us with that," she reassured him with a hand on his shoulder.

"I'll run it past her, make sure she's comfortable with it," he complied. "Do me a favor, don't mention this to the others, _especially_ Brass, we might end up with an armed militia at her door."

"Oh, and Gil," Catherine added, "When you're at the lab, you probably want to avoid Ecklie. He's been on quite a tear over you two."

Rolling his eyes, "Thanks, for the warning, but mostly thanks for sparing me the details." Hearing how Ecklie was on a fishing expedition for dirt on him and Sara was not what he wanted to hear about just now, but he would heed the warning and avoid the man.

Meanwhile, in another area of the hospital, Vincent Lurie breezed into Radiology between surgeries, "Where is Dr. Harris, he paged me?"

"He's in his office, sir, reading films, just around that corner," replied the receptionist.

Ever polite, "Thank you, I know where it is."

"So, Tom, what's so urgent you wanted to go over films with me in person?"

"Hey, Vince, thanks for stopping in. This is one of those potentially sticky issues, and I didn't want to risk this report slipping through the cracks," the radiologist replied.

"OK, what ya got?"

"Your patient, the police woman…."

"Actually, she's a CSI, and soon to be off my service, but continue."

"Whatever, well anyway, she apparently went through a horrific ordeal with an abduction, right? Are you sure that's when she sustained this left arm fracture?"

"Well, um, up to this point we've had no reason to question it."

"OK, well, the ER ordered X-rays of practically every bruise on her body looking for occult injuries."

"So you found something?"

"Nothing acute, but check this out," Dr. Harris said as he flipped several switches illuminating multiple films. "These are all films on your patient, Sara Sidle."

"Jesus, Tom, somebody really went over this gal," he said grimacing.

"Yep, now they are all old fractures, completely healed, I can't pinpoint the age, but the location and number, along with an acute fracture, well, they are highly suspicious for physical abuse. There is almost no way this happened with a single event, car wreck for example. Nope, this is much more ominous. You know the law now; you have to at least get social services to look into it, if not LVPD."

"Whew, no kidding when you said potentially sticky."

"What's her social history?"

"She dates her _boss_ in the crime lab, who is a very domineering, controlling type," he said shaking his head. "He might just end up being a problem, but, don't worry, I'm calling social services personally, we'll get rolling on it, Thanks for the heads up!"

Lurie practically skipped out of the radiology department he was so elated. Trying to settle down, he had to think. He had to present this information to a social worker in such a way to at least cast suspicion on Grissom. It might take some spin, but with his normally slick delivery he was more than capable_. Let him feel what it's like to be the accused. _It was certainly _possible_. While there was no doubt Sara had been abducted and left for dead in the desert, there had been no proof that she broke her arm during the ordeal. And the old fractures must have happened over a period of years, but surely they had been together that long; the power of attorney thing, the same address. _This might just work! And, I've got the law on __**my**__ side. _Just then Lurie got an even brighter gleam in his eye. _What if Grissom really did this?_ The doorway into Sara's life just opened a tiny bit, but he was going to try with all his might to keep it from closing.

TBC……


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: dittos….

Physicians rarely darkened the door to social services, so when Dr. Lurie breezed in all eyes turned to him. Marion Davies was next up for a consult; she sat at her desk finishing some reports. Few social workers had the experience she did. Ms. Davies had worked in several cities, in multiple capacities. She was not easily swayed by emotional tales, but stuck to facts she could verify, and was very detail oriented. Ironically, she was much like a CSI in that regard.

She eyed up Dr. Lurie suspiciously as he presented the clinical material to her. He described each old, healed fracture; then moved onto her new one. He even presented the details of her abduction, and her ordeal in the desert.

"I see." Ms. Davies regarded the information thoughtfully, "But, surely you don't doubt that the arm was broken during the course of her abduction"

"Truthfully, I have no idea; there were no other witnesses, just her word. I just know that however the acute fracture occurred, the old fractures are highly suggestive of physical abuse, and we don't know if it's been reported before."

"Well," she said, typing away, "The first thing to check is to see if she's in our system……Mmmm, No… she's not." After a pause, "You know, if she's not in our system with all those old fractures, these injuries probably occurred elsewhere, and she relocated here."

"I'm not so sure."

"Oh?"

"She and her current boyfriend are experienced crime scene investigators; if anyone can make something look like an accident that wasn't, they could. And let's face it, the only reason we picked up on it was because Dr. Rigby ordered _so_ many x-rays. Typically, we'd just have the film of an injured site. With that we might never have known the extent of the old fractures."

"True," she nodded, but still unconvinced. "Do you know anything else about her current social situation?"

"She dates her boss at work, a Dr. Gil Grissom."

"Doctor?"

"I suppose some sort of Ph.D. He's not a medical doctor."

"But, he's her boss?"

"Yes, he's listed as a supervisor. And, I'm not sure how long they've been together, but, I can tell you it's been long enough that they live together and he has her medical power of attorney."

"What?" Ms. Davies' face frowned in thought.

"What does that mean?" Dr. Lurie inquired, hoping for a red flag.

"Just, well, it's highly unusual. I've learned not to try to read too much into things like that, but it's merely a sign that this is not a typical relationship. We just don't know if it's unusual because of the couple, a very dominant, controlling partner, her boss, say; or something unrelated, maybe because she has no one else that she can trust in her own family and she has a relatively dangerous job."

"So what happens now?"

"I'm going to go talk to her. I'm not going to worry about the acute fracture; it should be a lot easier to verify the story behind the old ones. My money is on an abuse that happened when she was a younger woman; she's relocated and cut ties. She'll probably give the information up readily, I can get the respective medical and social service files on it, and I can wrap this up this morning."

Deep down, Lurie was thoroughly disappointed. He wanted to see Grissom twist in the wind a while; the last thing he wanted to hear was how easy this might be to resolve. "I haven't had a chance to inform the patient of the consult to social services, so I really need to go with you to introduce you, especially in case there are clinical questions."

"Agreed. I don't like walking in unannounced, it feels like an ambush, and I definitely need to talk to her without Dr. Grissom present; that may be easier to do with someone else backing me up on it."

"You're right about that, I should warn you, he can definitely be difficult."

"Oh?"

"He grilled me over her care. To be honest, I had planned to transfer her to the ortho service, and was looking forward to that. Then I get a page from the radiologist reading her films, and now I have to deal with this first," he said smiling and shaking his head. "I couldn't transfer _this_ problem! Honestly, I'm just really ready to be rid of this case, so the sooner we settle this, the better. That's why I'm here now, just trying to expedite things," he lied.

Ms. Davies considered his last statement a moment. His uncommon visit to social services had been puzzling, but this explained it, _somewhat_. They agreed that Dr. Lurie would page her after his next case and they would meet at the third floor nurses' station. In the meantime, Ms. Davies familiarized herself with the information contained in Sara's chart. She didn't like surprises, and wanted to make sure she was prepared when she interviewed Sara. What she did find was that Dr. Lurie had been remarkably accurate and detailed in his presentation, impressively so. She had to wonder; was he a most conscientious physician, or an obsessed one. Either way, she refused to be distracted by his behavior; she was to do just one job, make sure Sara Sidle was not being threatened with physical harm. In that, she would not be deterred.

In the operating room, Dr. Lurie was scrubbing his hands, preparing for surgery, as his mind wandered back to Grissom and how things might play out. While he pondered Ms. Davies' staunch objectivity which left her far from sold on Grissom's potential guilt; one thing was certain, Grissom would not be allowed to participate in the process. Ms. Davies was adamant about that. He simply couldn't wait to see the look on Grissom's face when informed that since he was potentially responsible, he would need to excuse himself. No matter how brief a time the suspicion was there; he knew it would be killing Grissom, and Vincent Lurie would revel in it.

TBC…..


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I'm running out of clever ways to say I don't own CSI or the characters...

Meanwhile the visit with the team was a welcome release for all involved, but once everything settled down, it was agreed that Grissom would in fact check in at the lab, recharge at home, and return. Catherine and Greg would stay with Sara until then. Greg was happy to help, but didn't really understand Gil and Catherine's worry.

It wasn't long after everyone left that he understood exactly what the worry was.

A knock at the door was followed by the entry of none other than Dr. Lurie himself, absent the team. Following him was a genteel, middle aged woman in a suit, no hospital uniform. Greg and Catherine recognized him immediately, as they had been very involved in evidence collection during that case.

Greg shot out of his chair upon recognizing Vincent Lurie.

Catherine glared at him, "What do you think you are doing here?" She knew he was supposed to be off Sara's case.

Vincent Lurie surveyed the room, unable to comprehend Gil Grissom's absence. He had carefully crafted this scenario to get back at Grissom. He had been anticipating the moment Ms. Davies would explain that he was now a suspect, of sorts, and he would be forced to leave Sara's side. He desperately wanted Gil Grissom to experience that feeling of helplessness, of being accused, innocence or guilt not withstanding. "Where is Dr. Grissom?" he demanded, momentarily closing his eyes, rubbing his temples.

"He's at the lab, but he can be here in a matter of minutes," Greg shot back.

Ms. Davies was stunned upon seeing Lurie's obvious disappointment in his absence. _I don't believe this, he was **looking** for a confrontation!_

Lurie knew he had to proceed; there would be no going back. _How in the world can he not be here after what she's been through! He still values his work more than her; he doesn't deserve her! _He rallied with everything he had to remain composed as he calmly started in, "I am still the attending physician of record. As I explained to Dr. Grissom this morning, the only way I would return is if an unexpected abnormality presented itself, and indeed it has. This is Ms. Davies with social services."

By now Sara was trembling, Catherine took her hand, and Greg came around to stand next to Lurie.

The doctor was looking down at Sara, smiling condescendingly, "Ms. Sidle, we have some potentially delicate information to go over with you, I think it would be best if your visitors leave now."

"Nobody's leaving, except you," Sara came back with.

"Very well," he nodded to Ms. Davis.

Ms. Davis took a deep breath, trying to focus on the task at hand, and softly continued, "Ms. Sidle, I'm so sorry I have to be here."

"I don't need anything from social services, please, leave," Sara interrupted.

"You work in law enforcement; surely you know why we're here, why we _have_ to be here."

Sara was starting to understand; the x-rays. She closed her eyes and began to take deep breathes, fighting off the memories. Catherine was still trying to make sense of it all, as Sara tightened her grip on her hand in frustration.

Lurie continued, "That's correct Ms. Sidle, a patient with an acute arm fracture, and healed fractures of the face, collar bone, upper arm, and multiple ribs, well, we are obligated _by law_ to make sure you are no longer susceptible to your abuser."

By now Greg and Catherine were getting the picture, and were having a hard time with the news. "Bottom line, cooperate with Ms. Davies or we have to turn it over to LVPD straight away."

Thrown face to face with her violent past so suddenly, and seeing the inevitability of rehashing all that, she started shaking with sobs. Catherine intervened, "OK, but wait," she looked up at Greg, but he merely shrugged, "you need to at least give her a minute to collect herself…"

"You mean for you CSI's to invent a story protecting your boss," Lurie said under his breath, with a slight smile. He was unable to resist turning the tables on Grissom, even if he wasn't present to hear it. By now both Greg and Catherine were horrified, and Sara's sobs grew stronger.

"That's it!" Greg shouted, "You need to leave now. We'll help Sara get composed and she _might_ talk to Ms. Davies here, but you _definitely_need to leave, now!" He positioned himself between Sara and Lurie, motioning to the door. Although Greg was not exactly an imposing figure, Lurie had finished what he was obligated to do, and the law didn't compel him to linger in Sara's room, bashing Grissom. He had done all he could reasonably do, the rest was up to Marion Davies. He looked down at Sara sympathetically as she continued to cry; causing her pain was the last thing he intended. Looking at her now still evoked the same feelings that Debbie had in him; the same loss of control. The only person he wanted to hurt was Gil Grissom. Worst of all, due to his inconceivable absence by her side; that may not even happen.

After a pause, Dr. Lurie nodded and reluctantly headed toward the door. Greg looked back, "I'll be right outside the door, if you need me, just yell." Catherine swallowed hard, and nodded.

Ms. Davies was totally taken back by the exchange with Greg and Catherine. She noticed the intensity in the way he stared at Sara. She knew there was something odd about Lurie's personal visit to her office, but now this. _What is going on here? _Fortunately, she had taken it upon herself to review the chart and the reports before coming in. There was no doubt a history of abuse; therefore, she had a clear cut job to do, thus she continued, "I'll give you girls a few minutes, and I'll be back. I promise it won't be bad, just a few straightforward questions, Ms. Sidle," she paused, with a more serious expression, "one more thing….you can have someone with you for my questions, but I don't recommend it be Dr. Grissom." She then headed to the nurses station to question them about Gil Grissom's demeanor around Sara.

Outside the door, Greg grabbed Lurie's elbow and spun him around, "You may hold a grudge against Grissom for making you a suspect in a murder, but using Sara to get your revenge is reprehensible!"

The doctor cocked his head inquisitively at Greg, "Is that what you think this is?" He straightened up, looked Greg straight in the eye, "Did you not hear anything I said in there?"

Greg took a deep breath, and Lurie continued, "Someone used this woman as a punching bag on multiple occasions; we are bound by law to investigate and report any ongoing abuse to authorities."

"That's impossible; Sara would never stay in such a situation."

"It's like I heard you CSI types say, 'the evidence doesn't lie', well I saw the films myself, they are strongly suggestive of physical abuse, the number and location of the old fractures cannot be explained by a single traumatic event; now the story needs to be told," he spoke with anger in his voice, and then he just turned and walked away.

Greg was stunned. It didn't seem real, but Lurie was right about evidence. He dutifully waited outside Sara's room, and was silent as Ms. Davies returned.

TBC….


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: Somebody besides me owns these incredible CSI characters.

Meanwhile, Catherine just sat by and let Sara cry it out. Sara's normally methodical brain was in chaos while she tried to reason what to do. Deep down, she _hated_the thought of anyone else at the lab knowing the full horror of her past. She would fight to keep that secret, but she was even more afraid to be alone with what she viewed as Lurie's hand picked social worker. She wasn't sure what his motivation was. There were mandatory reporting laws, but this seemed extreme. Because it was Lurie that initiated it, she was frightened.

The one person in the world who she wanted to help her through this is the one person they would never allow present. She'd done enough work in domestic abuse cases to know that Grissom would now be under suspicion; that much she knew for certain. Greg was probably her best friend in the lab, and he was right outside, but somehow Sara felt that because of that connection, he could get emotional, too. No, fate had taken care of her she reasoned; Catherine would stay level headed and could be tough as nails if need be. Sara just hoped she wouldn't have to say too much. She'd already told so many secrets, she was feeling quite exposed. When Sara finally calmed down, Catherine sensed as much and offered to leave if it would make Sara more comfortable, "God, no, Catherine, please, stay with me."

"Sara, what is this about?" Sara just cringed and shook her head, "What I mean is do you think this a legitimate inquiry or is Lurie up to something?"

"Unfortunately, I guess it is legitimate. I never thought I would be in this position though, so much time has passed." She stared off into space, "Even though this happened a long time ago; it haunts me like it was yesterday if I let it, and this is not helping."

"Well, we need to call Gil. He won't allow them to do this to you," she said whipping out her cell phone.

"Catherine," Sara shook her head, "don't you see? They know someone hit me, and with Gil as my current boyfriend, if he comes in here and beats his chest and stomps his feet, that will just raise their suspicion even more. Lurie's probably been counting on that, come to think of it…. No, I need to take care of this myself; I can't bear to see him in that position. Besides, I think I know what to do."

Before Catherine could respond, Ms. Davies returned, "Are you ready, dear?" in a soft, motherly tone.

"You know," Sara started, "I was the most accident prone kid," Sara shook her head, and flashed her biggest Sara grin, "I was always…."

Ms. Davies interrupted, "Ms. Sidle, you of all people know I can't take your version at face value, I need something I can independently verify."

Catherine was in shock, hardly able to contemplate what she was witnessing. Sara was acting like a typical battered woman; trying out excuses and fake stories.

Sara breathed in and continued in a more solemn tone, "OK, the truth is, the only man in my life for two years now, is Gil Grissom, and he's never raised his voice to me, much less his hand."

Catherine quickly echoed that, "The man can't squash a bug, much less harm a person!"

Ms. Davis smiled in reply, "When you two investigate possible domestic abuse, and the victim denies her partner's guilt, do you just take that at face value and leave it alone?"

They both laughed, "Gosh no!" they replied practically in unison.

"Then why do you think I can do that?"

Sara quickly frowned and looked away, Catherine quipped, "She's got us there." Sara shot Catherine a glaring look.

"By all accounts Gil Grissom is very devoted and loving to you, but some have described this as extreme, even controlling at times, which can be worrisome."

"Hold on!" Catherine interrupted, "_I_ can vouch for him."

"So does Doris, Sara's nurse, she's a wonderful judge of people, and she commented, 'I wouldn't mind takin' that Gilbert home with me, he's a teddy bear,'" she read from her notes. "The problem is, for all we know, _behind closed doors_, he broke her arm." Lurie had planted the idea, and Sara's emotional outburst and reluctance to talk led Ms. Davies to suspect it was actually possible.

"What! How can you say _that_!" Sara yelled.

"Well it says right here, that you _claim_ it happened under the car, but we don't have a witness, evidence, how do I know it wasn't broken before you were abducted."

Catherine grunted in frustration, "This is getting absurd! You want evidence we'll get it for you, it's what we do!"

_Thank you, Catherine! _Sara was grateful for Catherine standing up to Ms. Davies.

"No, no, please!" Ms. Davies tried to calm everyone down, "I don't really think he did this, but I _have_ to go on only what I can prove _right now_. Forget the current fracture for the time being, all I need is some information on the old fractures. I know what I can verify, and that will validate your story. If I can prove Dr. Grissom is not responsible for the old fractures, then no one will suspect in a million years he's responsible for the current one. This will all just go away. But, without that….well, this looks very bad, the police will need to get involved." She looked at Sara, pleading, "Please…..just answer some simple questions for me, _please_." Ms. Davies hadn't anticipated the stone wall. She was trying to be patient, but her suspicions were growing every minute that Sara remained silent.

Catherine looked directly at Sara, "Sara, tell her who, when, and where, that's what will help Gil….and you, for that matter. It can only get worse if you try to avoid this." Catherine glanced back at Mrs. Davies and whispered, "Something tells me she's seen way too much to get conned, she knows you're hiding _something_." Catherine then felt like she was hit with a bolt of lightening. She had been so blind sided by the ambush of Lurie and the social worker that she had not realized until that moment that _this_ was what triggered all that anger. _This_was what Grissom got her to tell him that ultimately brought them together._ It took him hours to get it out of her, and then he took her to counseling over it. Sara Sidle was a victim of physical abuse; this is not something she wants to talk about to anyone! But she's going to_ _**have**_ _to. _Catherine then offered, "If it's something you don't want me to hear, I can wait outside, or are you sure you don't want me to call Grissom?"

"No! Don't call him, but you're right, and….. please, stay." Sara nodded with resignation toward Ms. Davies, "OK, what do you want to know?"

TBC…..

A/N: Thanks to all who are reading, and the reviews have been a lot of fun! Much appreciated!


	14. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: I only claim Doris, DeeDee, and Marion, the others belong to someone else.

The social worker's suspicions of current abuse had been growing with Sara's reluctance to divulge the origin of her injuries. She regarded this shift in Sara's cooperation with guarded optimism. Given her expertise as a criminologist, Ms. Davies knew she still needed to be vigilant with Sara's information. She began her questions, "Of the healed fractures, which is the most recent, and where were you treated for it?"

Sara laughed, "Oh, gosh, I honestly don't know!" When she saw Ms. Davies look of exasperation, she half grinned, "I'm not trying to be difficult, really," looking between Catherine and the social worker, "this all happened before I was twelve." Catherine's jaw dropped, and she had to look away to stay composed, her mind jumped briefly to an image of her daughter Lindsey at 12 years old.

"What hospital where you taken to?"

Sara shrugged and replied, "You name a hospital in San Fran, and I've been in their ER. They rotated visits; looking back….it was so nobody would catch on that these weren't just isolated accidents"

Trying to hide her disappointment, Ms. Davies continued, "So you can't give me even one hospital name?"

"No, I never paid attention to that, I had to think so hard to remember the….., you know," she waved her hand trying to think of the right word, "the script."

Ms. Davies' suspicions were rapidly fading, she was now sympathetic; she was beginning to see why this was so difficult. A young child with a fracture at the hands of a parent, being made to memorize a rational, yet false, explanation for the trauma. What a horrendous way to grow up. _I guess she is having trouble recalling details_. Ms. Davies had seen such selective memory in young abuse victims. She tried to redirect, she still had to get _something_ she could verify, "So I take it, you were taken away from this person at age twelve?"

"Yes."

"Was it a parent, sibling, relative… someone at school?"

"My parents, well, mostly my father. My mother was getting knocked around a lot more than me, actually."

"OK," nodding, "So where did you say you lived growing up?"

"San Francisco."

"Oh, right," taking notes, she continued, "When you were removed from your father, I take it he was reported and taken away?"

"No, I was placed in foster care."

"What was the event that made social services take that step? Had they been monitoring your situation?"

Sara laughed in frustration, "No, nobody monitored anything. They knew nothing about me, they were there that night because of my mother."

Ms. Davies now displayed a look of disappointment, "This is not adding up, entirely. If your father abused you and your mother, he would be detained and your mother would have custody, but you ended up in foster care. How did she not end up with custody of you?"

"Do we have to go there? Haven't I given you enough?"

Catherine studied Sara; the look of terror on her face said it all. Unbelievably, she had _yet _to give up her biggest secret. The fact that she was an abused child, that she witnessed the abuse of her mother, still wasn't the whole story. As horrendous as that was; there was actually something worse. Catherine was bracing herself. As much as her curiosity wanted to know the story earlier, now she was very content to be oblivious. She was actually becoming frightened for Sara.

Ms. Davies gave a compelling nod, and Sara began to fight back tears. "I can't go there, surely you have enough to go on!"

"Ms. Sidle, I would love to just believe what you are telling me, but I must get corroboration. With what you've given me so far, getting your hospital records will be a shot in the dark. I have no hospital name, date, or specific injury. It happened before electronic record storage; you need very specific information to find paper records. Your social services file may not even mention your physical abuse since you said they were never notified. Then the night you were taken into foster care, you said yourself, they weren't there because of you, but because of your mother. I need more information." Ms. Davies knew this could be hard to verify, and the last thing any of them needed was a second visit; another session of reopening these old wounds. Experience told her she needed to get the whole story, and get it now.

Sara was looking at the wall, fighting tears, unable to say anything.

"The night you were taken into foster care is when social services first got involved; can you please tell me what happened, to you, to your mother?"

Then Sara managed to detach herself for a moment, and that glint in her eye appeared, the look she gets when she has figured out the crime scene and no one else has, "The night they came, you have it wrong." Ms. Davies cocked her head, Sara continued, "They came because of my mom alright, but not because she was hurt, although she was, _again_. They came because it was my mother that snapped; wouldn't you think if you've been hit one too many times, you would just call somebody…or leave…" Sara's voice trailed off.

She broke the silence, "Nope, my mother took the knife she was using to make dinner, and thrust it in him as he was just ranting at her. I was sitting at the table….it was a bloody mess." Sara now stared off on the floor. "I guess that's why I never wanted to learn to cook," and she tried to laugh, but there was no humor in that sound.

She took a deep breath, and continued, "Yep, you want a paper trail, check out 'State of California vs. Laura Sidle'. The trial transcript has detailed descriptions of all the abuse both of us endured at the hands of my father. I guess they thought she might get off on sympathy," she shook her head as her voice became hoarse with emotion.

There was a stunned silence in the room, once again. The social worker merely took notes, Catherine fought her emotions, Sara just sat and stared at nothing.

Finally Ms. Davies spoke, "I think I have everything I need, and I'm sorry this happened to you." She looked at the floor, then faced Sara, "When I get the supporting documents from San Francisco, this will all go in a confidential file in social services, the hospital consult to me will say, in effect, 'current abuse ruled out.' No details will be revealed. Any further admit to this hospital can refer to this consult, and you need not be questioned again. The matter will be closed."

Sara just shook her head, "Where the Hell _were_ you when somebody could have saved my family?" and she turned away.

Ms. Davies nodded, "You are one of the cases that made the mandatory reporting laws necessary. I'm sorry I couldn't have been there for you as a girl. You really don't know how sorry." Ms. Davies looked away and filed away her notes. She guessed right about the abuse happening when Sara was younger; she just didn't know how much younger, and just how difficult it would be to get Sara to talk about it. As she headed for the door, she motioned to Catherine to come over. She then held up her card, "Please, can you give this to Dr. Grissom and ask him to call me?"

"Haven't you done enough to this couple?" Catherine shot back.

"I beg to differ. My inquiry into this matter was unavoidable. I had only one job here, to make sure this woman is safe. Now, assuming the information she gave me is correct, and I'll know soon enough, that job is done. I want to speak to Dr. Grissom about another matter."

"What in the world could that be?" Catherine didn't try to hide the irritation in her voice.

"I would like to seek his input before I finalize my report to the ethics board of the hospital regarding Dr. Lurie's vindictive pursuit of this, and the unprofessional demeanor he displayed around Ms. Sidle."

Catherine pulled one corner of her mouth back in a shocked grin as she snapped up the card, "I'll see that he gets the message."

After she left the two women sat in silence for a time. Sara, with her back to Catherine, curled up on the bed in nearly a fetal position, her body gently shaking with soft, defeated sobs. Catherine just sat in shock. Feeling like she'd been punched in the solar plexus, just trying to wrap her head around the reality of Sara's childhood.

No longer able to sit, Catherine began pacing the room, and of all the powerful emotions raging through her, it was anger that finally took over. She finally shot out, "How could you keep this in all these years!"

Sara stopped crying, turned over and looked up quizzically, "Huh?"

Shaking her head, "I _needed_ to know this, I'm your superior, I make assignments, I work domestic abuse cases with you…..This is relevant to your job, and I'm part of that. Dammit, I should have known!" Catherine was clearly agitated.

"Are you mad at _me_?" Sara asked, her mouth open in shock.

Catherine looked down, a bit ashamed, "You're right, I'm mad alright, but I don't think I'm mad at you," she looked back at Sara, now with compassion. "But _had_ I known, I'm quite sure I wouldn't have sent you to ER's looking at hundreds of photos of battered women's broken jawbones! For that, I'm mad at myself," she said with her voice trailing off.

"It's the job, Catherine."

"It didn't have to be, we have a team for a reason. I can't believe how you've suffered in silence for so long. Everyone has certain cases that get to them, but, Sara," she held her side as if in pain, "I can't even imagine how you deal with some of the stuff we face."

Sara didn't respond. Then after the pause Catherine added, "I think I'm mostly mad at your parents."

"Join the club."

"What are we going to tell Gil?" Catherine said, grimacing.

Sara took a deep breath, "He's going to be mad as a hornet that I didn't call him, but I think his presence….you know he would have tried to take charge, and to isolate me, and that would have made all this worse. You know how suspicious that looks. I'm so relieved he wasn't here. I think it could have gotten really ugly. That's probably why Lurie came himself. Can you imagine it? 'Dr. Grissom, could you step out while we try to figure out if it was you that beat up your girlfriend.' You know that doctor must have been dying to say that to Gil!"

Catherine nodded in agreement, laughing at last, "Oh, right, that would have gone over well. Gil would have gone ballistic, and here we are trying to paint the picture of a consummate pacifist!" Pulling out the card she was given, "By the way, Ms. Davies wants to talk to Gil."

"What!"

"I think he'll want to speak to her. She's a pro, she picked up on everything; she's filing a report to the ethics board of the hospital."

"Whoa," Sara said reaching for the card, "Enduring this crap was almost worth it!" and they both laughed. "Check that, if he gets nailed, it was definitely worth it, if for no other reason for Debbie and her dismembered boyfriend."

Catherine agreed, impressed with Sara's empathy. Looking toward the door, "And what about Greg?"

"I'll reassure him, but he doesn't need to know everything." Looking up at Catherine, "Please, Cath, I do _not_ want anyone else to know about this."

Shaking her head, "But, why? I don't understand. Why don't you want to share this? The team is so close, I think it would it help if they knew, it would help _you_ if they knew."

Shaking her head, "As bad as my life was at home, then foster care was no picnic; you wouldn't believe how rough it was going to school after all that. It was just awful. I was the girl whose mother murdered her father," she said rolling her eyes, "Yea, they were just lining up to have play dates with _me_." After a pause, she continued, "Then I went to college, I went as far away as I could get, and I told no one about my past. It was so liberating not to be that girl anymore. I made friends and dated so easily. I just buried my past." Looking wistful again, "Unfortunately, those ghosts still haunt me from time to time. It's easier to keep them at bay when others don't see them too."

Catherine appeared unconvinced. "Catherine, I don't want to be that girl anymore! I don't want special treatment, people looking at me with those sympathetic looks and pity." She calmly added, "It's so profound it tends to define you after a while, and then it consumes you."

Catherine finally nodded, understanding, but still blown away by how complex a woman Sara was, and how intensely private. All these years working together, talking woman to woman, she knew Sara was holding back, but she never guessed just how much more there really was. The symmetry wasn't lost on her. Before today, the person in Catherine's mind who was the most complex and private person she knew was Gil Grissom.

"Well, if I get a secret that I _need_ to talk about, but still need it to be a secret, I know who to go to!" They both laughed, again, "How 'bout I let poor Greg back in, he must still be playing sentry outside your door."

Sara took a deep breath and nodded, trying to decide what she would say to him.

TBC….


	15. Chapter 15

Disclaimer: same as every other chapter…

Catherine found Greg just outside the door, waiting like a spider. "Cath, tell me this is all a lie, there's no way Sara would let herself become a victim like that!"

Catherine smiled, and shook her head, "I'd rather she talk to you, go on in."

Greg bounded into the room and immediately sat by Sara's side. He was surprised to see her smiling, "It's OK Greg, really, I mean it, I'm OK." Her bloodshot eyes said otherwise.

"But….Sara? Is it true?"

"It all happened such a long time ago, my father knocked me around a bit, my mother, too. He's dead, and I don't speak to her anymore. It's ancient history."

Greg started to ask something, but Sara put her finger to his lips, "Leave it in the past."

She looked seriously at him, "And, keep this between us. This is not something I like people knowing about me."

Greg pulled her into an embrace, as much to be close to her as to hide his tears welling up at the thought of someone abusing her as a girl.

Meanwhile, Catherine waited outside. She pondered how so much of both Sara and Gil was out of sight, like two icebergs. They were perfectly matched in that regard, so much beneath the surface. It now seemed almost logical that their relationship was hidden, when so much of each individual existed hidden from others.

Doris approached Catherine as she passed, "You people sure keep an eye on that gal. There's always somebody up here with her."

Catherine just nodded, "We are all very close, and it was a close call after all."

"How 'bout an extra chair or cot?"

"That'd be great!"

Catherine and Greg each laid out on a cot, exhausted. They both had a hard time sleeping though. Sara drifted off, awakening them all with a nightmare. Asleep again, then the phone, Grissom checking in. They reassured him, saving the story for Sara to tell later. Asleep again, Doris in to check Sara's condition. Asleep again, meal time. "They need to discharge you to get well, nobody can get a minute's sleep in this place," Greg moaned.

Back in her office, and thanks to a close contact in San Francisco, Marion Davies wasted no time in confirming Sara's story. From the details of the trial transcript, she easily found records. As she filed away the paperwork, she focused her attention on Dr. Lurie. She called to inform him the matter was closed, and not so subtly told him he should proceed with the transfer immediately. He thanked her for the call, but inside he felt such utter frustration that Grissom was exonerated so quickly. Also, knowing his contact with Sara was now officially severed, he was consumed by thoughts of what might have been if he could have come between them, been her savior. _I must have been delusional to think I could get her that way. _He buried his head in his hands on his desk. He was totally enraged that he missed his opportunity to put it to Grissom. Even worse, his nemesis had his 'Debbie', and he didn't even stand a chance with her. Trying to get his mind off of her, he threw himself into work, not that hard to do given his schedule, and as promised passed her care to the orthopedic team. The only reminder was her name and contact information he copied from her chart that first night, still tucked into the back of his wallet. He knew he couldn't be further from her, but deep down he just couldn't let go of all hope completely.

TBC….

A/N: Sorry for the brevity of this chapter, I'm trying to figure out how to land this thing, so I'm working on several chapters at once! I don't intend to go on and on, so just a few more chapters, until the start of the episode "A La Cart." Thanks for hanging in there, and I should be able to post everyday from here on….


	16. Chapter 16

Disclaimer: I just borrow these characters for my ramblings.

Sara and Greg finally fell asleep, but Catherine finally gave up. She got up and went into the hall to stretch. Leaning against the wall, eyes closed, pondering recent events, she almost jumped out of her skin upon hearing Grissom's voice.

"You left my Sara alone with Greg?" he questioned, grinning, eyes narrowed.

"Geez, Gil, you scared me half to death. Don't sneak up on a person like that!" She scolded, while he chuckled. "I couldn't sleep, so I was stretching out here; those two are out for the count."

"It was good for me to check in at the lab, and I managed to avoid Ecklie, by the way. Appreciate the heads up on that. Mostly, I appreciate you two staying, it was surely overkill, but my mind was at ease knowing you were here."

Catherine was now grimacing, "Overkill? Well, it wasn't really overkill after all."

"Catherine," he said with his tone rising, "What are you trying to say?"

"I'm saying that Greg and I are totally exhausted, we are leaving now that you are here, and I'm going to let Sara fill you in on what you missed."

Grissom had a look of total confusion on his face as Catherine entered Sara's room to collect her things, and collect Greg as well. "C'mon sleeping beauty," she whispered in his ear, "Let's get home and get some rest."

"Catherine," Grissom whispered forcibly, but she continued out, smiling. Greg patted him on the shoulder silently shaking his head and rolling his eyes, and they were gone. Sara was sleeping peacefully. He wouldn't dare wake her, so his curiosity would drive him insane until she stirred. Then he got an idea. Opening the door he saw Doris heading down the hall with her medicine cart, "Pssst, hello Doris." Grissom flashed his biggest smile her way, "So what happened here while I was gone?"

Doris laughed heartily, "Oh baby, let's just say you were the talk o' the town!" She continued with her work, shaking her head and giggling.

"I was!?" By now Grissom was beside himself. _What could have happened, and why won't anyone tell me!_

Just then Sara started to stir. Looking around to get oriented, Gil rushed to her side, "Hey there."

Rubbing her eyes, "Hey there, yourself," she said with her mouth forming a grin, happy to see he had returned.

"Will you please tell me what I missed! Greg and Catherine left exhausted, they told me you'd fill me in. I've been going crazy waiting for you to wake up. Even my friend Doris is evading the question," he said smiling, planting several tender kisses around her face and lips between words.

But Sara was smiling no more, "Oh, honey," she said cringing and shaking her head, "I don't even know where to start."

Now he was looking at her, trying to read her mood, searching for clues, "What? Please, Sara, tell me. Surely Lurie didn't come back?" He said almost jokingly, while he took her hand and kissed it.

"First I need your word, promise you won't be mad that I didn't call you."

He instantly froze, then he shook his head, looking at her intently now, "Sara, please…"

Sara took a deep breath and started to recount the events of the day. "Lurie came back; he brought a social worker to investigate my old fractures."

"What!?" Gil's expression was that of complete shock and confusion.

"You know, technically they actually had the law with them, but Lurie was scary. Greg threw him out!" She couldn't resist laughing, "You should have seen that!" she said rolling her eyes.

Grissom exhaled audibly, his stomach was in knots, and he was trembling with emotion as he reached up to wipe his mouth. It was not unlike the helpless feeling he had looking at her lifeless body they found in the desert, "I'm having trouble with all of this…" _I should have never left._

Sara saw his inner turmoil and reached up to embrace him. He held onto her for dear life; his embrace was so tight it was actually painful given all her injuries, but she would never consider asking him to relinquish it. When he was finally able to catch his breath, he relaxed his hold on her. He looked upon her face, her look was pensive as she continued, "It took a while, but I finally managed to do what I needed to do. After all was said and done, I think that social worker was actually very good. When she first came in with Lurie, I assumed she was his puppet, but obviously that was not the case."

"How do you know?"

Sara now grinned, "She left you her card."

Grissom now looked more confused than ever.

"She wants your input for her report to the hospital ethics board on Lurie's actions."

Grissom's eyebrows shot up. "I see," he meekly replied.

They finally laughed at the image of Greg trying to stand tall to Lurie. Sara reassured Gil that he left her in good hands. Greg was right outside if he was needed, and Catherine was at her side, ready to stand up for her as need be. Grissom then reassured her that Catherine and Greg would be discrete with her past.

"So you're not mad that I didn't call you."

"Well, I don't know if I'd go that far," he said frowning.

"It's over though. That trial transcript is so detailed, there won't be much doubt about what happened."

"I just don't think you should have had to go through that. Sara, I _know_ how hard that was for you to talk about. I could have met with this Ms. Davies and provided the same details. She could have checked them just the same."

"Gil, honey, you know how it is. When the suspect…."

He recoiled at the word, "_suspect_!"

"Like it or not, a woman with a fresh fracture and several old ones, guess who is suspect number one, _current boyfriend_!" she said smiling, managing now to find a bit of ironic humor in the whole thing. "Lurie made sure that lady walked in the door suspecting you first and foremost."

He nodded. "I guess you're right. We could have gotten there, but it might have been an ugly journey. I would not have taken on the role of '_suspect'_ gently." He paused, then asked, "And Lurie, he hasn't been back?"

"No, as a matter of fact, the orthopedic surgery team descended on me; told me they were now my doctors, and, Oh by the way, I'm going to the operating room in the morning."

Eyebrows raised again, "Whoa."

"Yeah, apparently they gotta put some metal plates and screws in there to keep the bones lined up so they heal properly. I asked if it's enough to set off the metal detectors at the courthouse, and they didn't know." After pausing, "I guess that means 'yes'," she frowned.

Grissom nodded, "And then home?"

"Yes! Tomorrow after surgery, _home_," she smiled at him. It was the same smile that makes his insides melt, that sends his heart into overdrive, that makes him feel the power of his love for her.

He leaned over for another kiss, and realized she was much easier to embrace now that much of the paraphernalia attached to her had been taken away. Taking full advantage they savored being alone together, and alive.

TBC….


	17. Chapter 17

Disclaimer: dittos...

The rest of Sara's hospital stay went like clockwork. Sara's pre-op sedative had the right effect; Gil enjoyed the giddiness it produced in her, not a care in the world. That was short lived; however, as they swooped in and whisked her away from him. Recent events made it incredibly difficult to let her out of his sight, but it had to be. Waiting in the hospital room for hours was pure torture. He had books and crosswords, but wasn't able to concentrate. Finally, staring down his phone, he made the call he had been putting off.

"Hello, Marion Davies, social services."

"Gil Grissom. I had a message you wished to speak with me."

Ms. Davies dropped what she was doing to concentrate on the call, "Yes, thank you for the call. How is Sara?"

"Right now she's in surgery."

"I was referring to her emotional state."

"Considering that she just survived an encounter with a serial killer, and on the heels of _that_, a confrontational exposure of her most painful emotional scars, she's actually doing about as well as can be expected." Gil didn't waste any time establishing his opinion of what transpired.

"I understand your frustration with the way that was handled, but you must understand, I was put in a situation where I had to do a job, if I didn't do it, there were potential ramifications, legal and otherwise."

"Surely there are better ways to handle this."

"There are, that's why I'm pursuing this complaint against Dr. Lurie. Typically a physician gets a report as troubling as Ms. Sidle's, they go to the patient. They get a history of the fractures, a feel of the current situation, they put in a consult to social services, we follow up. The consult usually steers us a bit, like, 'history of old abuse, need confirmation,' or 'physical abuse suspected, please investigate.' They prepare the patient for our visit, inform them we're coming, and so on."

"I take it this was not handled like you described."

"Not even close. Lurie came to my office with the consult _in person_, highly unusual. Doctors are way too busy to walk down a consult to social services. At the time, I didn't know quite what to make of it. He claimed he was trying to expedite the consult so that he could transfer the patient off his service because you had been difficult to deal with. He portrayed you as controlling, you're the boss, you're in control, you have medical power of attorney, and you were giving him grief over his handling of her case."

"You _do _know that doesn't describe me, my relationship with Sara, or the conversation I had with him in the least. Except that I do have her medical power of attorney, but she has mine as well."

"Well, that's become clear in the interim. At the time, I agreed to see her without her being prepared in advance only because I was trying to cooperate with the expedited nature of the process. Having said that, the doctor was coming along to introduce me, and I still fully expected to be introduced to the patient in a non-threatening manner."

"When did you realize something was amiss?"

"Oh, my," she replied, laughing somewhat, "when I set foot in the room! It was clear he had been looking for a confrontation with you, but instead was getting plenty of confrontation from the patient and visitors."

"With all that, why then didn't you just stop it?"

"I tried to focus on the patient. I had checked the radiology reports myself; so I knew that something truly happened to her. That much was _fact_, and that was my obligation. I tried to tune out the distractions, especially since at that point I had no idea what was going on! I mean nobody was acting normally, not Lurie, and certainly not the visitors. I didn't know anybody until that day, so how would I know who was the bad guy or who was the good guy; I was in up to my eyeballs, so I just focused on the job at hand. The only person acting at all predictably was Ms. Sidle; she was acting like a woman who had been traumatized. So, when the room cleared out, it was get the story from her, get some corroboration, make sure she is truly safe, and then look at the rest of this once that's done. That's where I am now."

Grissom was starting to understand the social worker's perspective. "You know, there's some history between Lurie and me, but I can't divulge the details of an old investigation."

"I guessed as much. I'm new to this hospital, but I have since learned that Dr. Vincent Lurie is a very prominent surgeon; he is clinically brilliant and he is a masterful teacher, a very rare and valued combination in a teaching hospital. However, I'm also learning his personal reputation is not quite so stellar. I'm not privy to his file, but I know this isn't his first rodeo with the ethics committee. Just like in your business, infractions do tend to add up."

"This is true. I would love to cooperate in any way I can, what do you need from me?"

"I know you're reluctant to risk discussing your past interaction with Lurie, but rest assured, I really don't think I need any of that. Dr. Braily mentioned that you spoke with Dr. Lurie privately outside of the room. Can you tell me what you discussed? It seems obvious he misrepresented that to me, and that's quite critical."

"Sure, I remember every word of that conversation." His stomach tightened up recalling his encounter with Lurie. He continued, "So, what do you see coming out of this?"

"My job is to document the behavior as factually as I can. It's their job to determine guilt and punishment, and that will all occur behind closed doors. I can tell you this, I would be shocked if he doesn't get his privileges at the hospital suspended, at least temporarily. That will then set off a state licensing board investigation. Harassment should be harassment, period, but they get really riled when harassment of a patient by a doctor is believed to have occurred. Depending on the severity of his past transgressions, it's possible he could ultimately lose his Nevada medical license over this."

"I'm always intrigued when justice is served in an unexpected form."

"Unfortunately, I need to bring up one more thing, but I, um, honestly, this is a bit touchy."

Gil had been impressed by her forthright delivery of information, and he was bracing himself for whatever came next. "Please, go ahead."

"As I said, I don't know what the outcome of this will be, but I suspect, at least in the short term, Lurie is going to be forced to have some time on his hands."

Gil sighed, rubbing his temple, getting the drift of where she was going.

"When I went back to get accounts of Lurie's behavior towards Ms. Sidle and you; well, I got some disturbing observations. He was seen staring at Sara in a trance like state virtually every time he saw her. I'm not one to make unfounded accusations; I'm relating this to you in confidence. There were other things too; a lot of his actions had the feel of a stalker. I'm only telling you this as a caution; I really don't want to upset anyone needlessly, but I couldn't help but be concerned. I thought you could best relay this to her in a way that would help her to be careful, but not to scare her."

"I understand, and thank you, we'll be very careful." Gil felt a headache coming on at the mere suggestion that another lunatic could come after Sara in the future.

"Will you call me when things settle down? I'm late for a meeting right now, but I would like to make an appointment at your convenience to go over your story, and that will give me a chance to check up on Ms. Sidle."

"Yes, I'll be sure and do that, and thank you."

After terminating the call, Grissom wondered if the rumor mill had provided Ms. Davies with the story behind Debbie Marlin, her relationship with Lurie, the murder, the subsequent investigation, and Sara's uncanny resemblance to her. Her insight made it appear she understood all that, without actually going there. _No wonder Sara and Catherine ended up being impressed with her._

Now, that the call was done, Gil was back to trying to figure out how he would endure the next hour or so waiting for Sara to come back from surgery.

TBC….


	18. Chapter 18

Disclaimer: I don't own CSI or the characters, still.

The surgery to fix Sara's broken arm went beautifully. Back in her room, she had an uneventful recovery, but as expected her arm was smarting pretty badly. She required more pain medicine sending her in and out of sleep. Meanwhile, there were visits from some of the ER team, including Ms. Bursen with her contact information for payback purposes. She gave Grissom shameless grief over puking in the ER. Even in her haze, Sara was enjoying that. _Too bad the rest of the team isn't here to catch all this! _Then came good-byes from the third floor staff, as they went about preparing her discharge. Fortunately, Lurie was not seen again, although he discretely followed her progress, even looked upon her in the recovery room, and he knew she would be leaving after the surgery.

Finally, Ms. Davies checked in. She so wanted to meet Gil Grissom face to face, and leave the couple her sincerest best wishes. Sara awakened when she walked in the room. Looking up at her smiling face, "Gil, this is Ms. Davies, with social services, Ms. Davies, this is Gil Grissom."

"Dr. Grissom, I've heard _so_ much about you," she said somewhat jokingly.

He extended his hand, and smiled knowingly, "Thanks for handling this situation so expeditiously. I don't think I would have been able to stand anyone suggesting I could ever hurt this woman!" He took Sara's hand, looking down on her lovingly.

"I was happy to put it to bed." In her long career, she had seen some of the most loving touches on the surface turn brutal behind closed doors, but theirs were different. The looks they shared, and his touch on her hand, were obviously genuine and real. It warmed her heart to see them together like that. She then handed Sara an envelope, "Here is a copy of my consult. I thought you should have this. It should prevent you from having to answer another stranger's questions in the future, even if you were at another hospital."

Sara and Gil reassured her that they respected the job she did handling the case after all was said and done. Gil promised to call to set up the appointment to provide details of his encounter with Vincent Lurie. Ms. Davies promised to keep him aprised of the ethics committee's actions.

Gil took Sara home. It felt like years had passed since she'd last been there. Truth be told, their lives had changed immeasurably. Grissom went back to work almost immediately to ease the pressure on graveyard since they'd been absent. Sara padded around the house. Her internal clock was hopelessly off, she had trouble sleeping, and usually just napped at odd times. She wasn't up to doing much, and had trouble concentrating. She was uncharacteristically tentative, even during their lovemaking. She blamed her physical pain, and the unwieldy full-arm cast. Gil knew otherwise, he saw another type of pain, a melancholy, almost as if some of her passion, her zeal, what made her Sara, was still lost in the desert somewhere. When he tried to talk about it, she denied it. He suggested counseling, she bristled. He saw it, but was powerless to help her. He could only hope that time and work would bring her around.

He masterfully dodged Ecklie who had been meeting one on one with every member of the graveyard team; lab tech and CSI alike. He was brow beating them all for information on Grissom and Sara's affair. He just could not accept that no one knew. He could not accept that Sara didn't receive special treatment. He even met with receptionists and janitorial personnel. But, every story was the same; they first got wind of it only after the abduction. And, no, they saw no preferential treatment towards Sara; no displays of affection in the lab.

The only interview that deviated from the others was Brass. He barely grunted answers, and offered nothing but vague "I don't remember," or "How would I know." Ecklie strongly suspected Gil had confided in him, but all his answers screamed "Go to Hell!" so he was forced to give up. He was no match for Brass.

Catherine was ready for Ecklie, and by the time he met with her, she was actually relieved that she hadn't known, Sara had been right about that. The fact that no one knew would ensure the consistent rendition of all the stories, and protect them. Ecklie still couldn't accept that Catherine, especially Catherine, didn't know, as dialed into people as she was. He came down on her the hardest, asked her again and again, from different angles, going over their work on past cases even, but her story was exactly like every other CSI; she only learned of the relationship after Sara's abduction. The hardest issue was Grissom's handling of Sara after she was suspended. Ecklie knew Catherine was furious with the way Sara had acted towards both her and the witness. This is where he knew he could get Catherine to agree Grissom hadn't always been objective with Sara.

"Catherine, even you commented that Sara is inappropriately emotional on every domestic abuse case, to the point of risking the outcome of the investigation. Surely you agree that after the case you supervised, she needed to be severely disciplined if not outright fired!"

Catherine's stomach did a flip at the thought of Sara working that case, now knowing her past. "Truthfully, at the time, I might have. But since, Grissom has been proven right about the situation. He took responsibility for it, and obviously corrected whatever problems existed. She never displayed any insubordination to me in the slightest after that. She kept her cool in general. She never compromised an investigation, and has done remarkable work since."

"It looks like evidence that they were involved, to me."

"No, I'm telling you, whatever intervention he made was as a supervisor, _and _was no different than how he approached Warrick when he was consumed by gambling and screwed up an assignment worse than Sara _ever _did. Do I need to remind you about Holly Gribbs?"

While Ecklie was taking notes, she added, "And, I'm pretty sure Warrick and Grissom never dated!" she giggled.

The attempt at humor was totally lost on Ecklie. He was frowning, shaking his head, visibly agitated, but Catherine continued with a slight smile, "Grissom's still a Catholic deep down, he forgives when someone's remorseful. Don't misjudge that as preferential treatment for Sara, we all benefited from that at some point along the way with him."

She stood to leave, "Conrad, this is the bottom line, they were incredibly professional. They left no clue about their relationship. I promise you, I was totally floored to learn about it. In fact, if you are wondering if their relationship affected their work, just the fact that _none_ of us knew tells you it didn't. They were always the consummate professionals."

He just shook his head and frowned. But the story kept coming back the same. Calls to Grissom went unanswered, and he couldn't seem to catch him in the lab. Finally, he called their home, "Sara?"

"Yes."

"Conrad Ecklie."

"Oh."

"I hope you're healing up."

Silence

"I need to meet with you when you're up to it. We need to discuss you returning to work, and, well, your relationship with your supervisor," he grimaced on the other end of the line.

"I can come in tomorrow, what time?"

And the meeting was arranged. "Tell Grissom I need to see him, too."

Grissom drug himself home after another double, and Sara told him of the phone call and the meeting scheduled the next day. "Do you need me to go with you?" he asked.

"No, I can hold my own with him. I don't feel like I have anything to apologize for, the work we've done the past two years speaks for itself. In fact, I think I'm ready to face the music, get it over with. Waiting around here, not knowing what will happen to me, to us, it's wearing on me."

"Just stay calm, don't give him any more to hold up to you. He surely knows how to push people's buttons. If he wants to come down on you, you need to let me deal with him. You really shouldn't be disciplined or punished over this, but we need to be careful going toe to toe with him."

She just smiled, thinking back to the time when she definitely didn't stay calm in front of Ecklie. It almost cost her her job, but ultimately brought Gil to her. "So where will you be?"

"I'll make sure I'm somewhere else," he simply smiled, "if you're sure you don't need me there, that is. My whole strategy is to avoid the man as long as possible; I figure by the time he's interviewed everyone else, maybe there won't be too much left for him to ask me. What I'm worried about most is he'll break up the team. If it comes to that, you stay with them, I'll move to swing, they have never settled on a supervisor since Catherine moved back to grave."

"Gil, you're a fixture on that shift, I can't see that."

"It's bad enough we'll be separated, but I can't stand the thought of you not being around people who know and love you after everything you've been though."

She reluctantly agreed, but ultimately she couldn't come to terms with being the person who came between Grissom and his team. She would cross that bridge when the time came.

Deep down, what Sara feared far more than Ecklie, was returning to that girl she was as a child. The one everyone talked about, stared at. She knew her relationship with Grissom would mean she wouldn't be viewed the same, no longer 'one of the guys'. More than that, it made her heart race to think what gossip was flying around, what unkind, untrue, things people were saying about her, and the most private, sacred, part of her life. She knew walking into the lab for that meeting, the stares would be burning, and she would feel that heat.

"I'll be fine," she lied, "I survived the miniature killer, I'm pretty sure I can survive this!" She snuggled up to him, "The hardest part will be getting dressed by myself with only one good arm." They smiled, and kissed, and Gil gladly helped her get _un_dressed for now, looking for that passion, that spark. The part of her he loved the most. He loved her so completely, he would wait as long as it took for that part of Sara to awaken. He had no doubt that it would, and he would let her do it at her own pace, offering his unending support at every turn. He reasoned she had earned that and then some, putting up with his own tentativeness for so many years.

When time came to get ready to go into the lab, Sara got an early start to her dressing routine. She gave up on trying to shower the first day home, finding it almost impossible to keep the plaster cast dry, even with plastic bags wrapped around it. Bathing worked best, and Gil helped out by continuing to wash her hair for her. The tradition started in the hospital, and was something they both came to embrace. Gil washed her hair the previous night, just before going in for his shift. He talked her into letting it dry naturally, curling softly around her face. As she dressed, she cussed in frustration; the easiest things were so dang hard with that stupid cast. She had to clasp her bra first and then step into it, and then, wrestle the shoulder strap over the cast, and so on. Her jewelry had to be without clasps, and buttons, a nightmare. Fortunate that she got a head start on the process, she then drove herself to the lab with a few minutes to spare before her appointment with Ecklie. She just sat in the car for a while; trying to muster up her courage. Not to face Ecklie, but to face the stares in the lab. Knowing it was inevitable; she marched inside, looking at the floor, or looking straight ahead, unable to make eye contact with anyone. No one tried to speak to her as she passed. She went straight to Ecklie's office, and softly knocked….

**The End**….the story picks up at the beginning of the episode "A La Cart" 8 X 02…..

A/N: This was my first attempt at this. Thanks to all those reviewing this story, they are very much appreciated. And, thank you to all who have endured these ramblings in silence. Group hug.

A/N 2: To all of you Lurie-haters out there….I know you wanted to see him drawn and quartered, but he's still out there, sequel material…..Just rest assured he has months of hassles from the hospital and state board of medical examiners to keep him busy, he's in plenty of hot water.


End file.
